After reading and looking, I'm pretty sure that what I don't understand about your site greatly outweighs what I do understand. It would help lot to begin with better pictures. If you want to do that, stand at the center, back of your house and from that position pan the camera 180* left to right, taking slightly overlapping pictures that capture the entire perimeter of the yard. Then move the camera to the center of the back fence and do the same thing looking the other way ... pan 180* from left to right showing the side fences and the house ... everything in slightly overlapping pictures so that one could understand what is in the complete scene and how things in it relate to one another. keep the camera level for the pictures so that grade has a chance of being understood. The pictures should be sharp and clear, without major shadows.

At some point, whatever information you choose to explore will need to be explored in plan (bird's eye) view. If you drew the base plan now and incorporated it into the thread, it would compliment the pictures insofar as having people more accurately understand the property layout. As with the pictures, it's also a tool that's useful for imparting information back to you.

Other than the fact of being are in a Mediterranean climate, do you mean that there is something in the final product that should APPEAR Mediterranean in some way? If so, describe your expectation of this appearance. And what is your expectation of the "English" appearance?

The overall space is relatively small. I would counsel you against subdividing it into smaller portions as this stands a good chance of limiting your opportunities for whatever greater impact the space is capable of. Instead, divide the space from the side yard, making each into separate "rooms." That creates a perfect opportunity to add an arbor between the two and give the back yard a more private feeling.

A lawn, like a a living room carpet, can be a nice, multi-purpose platform. But it's not very good for supporting furniture like one might need for lounging on a regular basis. For that, a patio or deck works better. Is there a desire for shade?

Thank you Yardvaark.

Meditarranean refers to the climate, though I do also like Meditarranean gardens. English garden means some hedges, crucnchy paths, relaxed, busy with layers of flowers, as lush as we're able to make it, useful plants mixed between ornamentals, some trailing the ground, some climbing vertically, pops of color. My mum is English. The gardens she grew up with and the she kept as I grew up. Rough guides for us.

Here are better photos. The yard is super bumpy from the the bobcat sinking into wet clay soil when we pulled up all the concrete. We've had to wait for the soil to dry. The bobcat is coming back to grade and smooth.

This is the left side with the cinder block retaining wall. If we planted a hedge, it would go in front of the cinder blocks. If we build a moss rock wall, the wall would be built in front of the cinder blocks and would wrap over them. The fence is actually straight - the crookedness is from the panoramic scan. The fence with all lattice has no retaining wall right now. After it's graded, the area in front of the lattice will be a 3' wall as it's the high point of the yard and we're taking out 1' of dirt. It's only a 2' wall at the other end.

Close up of the area we'd potentially plant vines. It's above the wall, in front of the fence. Plenty of weeds there before, bamboo and blackberries. You can see the side yard. That gate at the end gets replaced and moved back a good 10'. It was all concrete. The kitchen is by the gate, so we'll put herbs, small BBQ and a place to eat over there. I'm thinking pavers with green in between. The side yard passes 3 rooms, so we'll put arbors to create slightly different areas to look out of from each room, and to give a sense of passing through slightly different spaces to get to the backyard.

This the same area from the other direction, facing the concrete garage wall at the back of the yard. If we go hedge, it would be planted right at the wall, where the dying cala lilies are, growing towards the fence for its depth.

And a panoramic of the retaining wall side in two images, slightly warped from the panoramic scan.

This shows the concrete wall that used to be the back of the garage. Please excuse the leftover tree bits. We did battle with a monstrous Blackwood Acacia that was crushing the neighbor's roof. No warping. This is the lumpy yard.

Back of the yard. I'd love rose vines covering all of this. Something.

Right side of the yard. The white wall is the downhill neighbor's garage, right on the property line. It was under 18" of dirt when we moved in. I excavated it and we're grading to this height to keep her garage wall exposed.

The garden actually extends beyond this photo. There's about 5' width that runs 4'-10' along the side of the house, depending on where we move the fence.

And finally, the existing back of the house. We're extending that room so the house is a square - where the green bin is will be house. That slider will be replaced with a 10' French sliding door. The small window will be replaced and moved. The metal siding will be gone. There will be a deck along the entire back of the house, about 5' deep. We're grading to the level of the house. The rickety fence on the left will be moved back and replaced.

It sounds from the description ("we're taking out 1' of dirt" and "grading to the level of the house") that you will be creating a relatively flat yard that's lower than all surrounding properties. Have you had anyone come look at this from an engineering/drainage point of view? If you have 1/2" of heavy rain, and the surrounding properties are higher, where does that leave you? Though you may be a drought now, that doesn't mean that this will always be the case, so you want to be sure to plan for accommodations for water flow, and any major changes in grade will effect this. Even if you aren't lower than all surrounding properties, will your regrading effect water flower onto neighboring properties?

NHBabs is hitting the nail on the head that being careful about grading will be critical. It looks like you're surrounded by structures on the side of the lot that water appears it would drain toward (left side when facing back of house from back lot line.) Water will need to be routed from the right side, around the house and toward the left. It would be important to know what is between the houses on that side, where the water will go and how it will get there. Hopefully, you will have someone actively involved who knows how to take take of this.

5' depth of deck seems almost useless. There is no room for the furniture one would commonly use on a deck: 4-top table & chairs, an extra chair of two, maybe and end table, a chaise if one is into that ... and a grill. If the grill uses wood or charcoal it might be just off the deck. !0' deck depth is about the minimum you could do without starting to miniaturize furniture.

Since the space is tight, it would really be good to begin planning the things out, to scale, on a plan. If you make a simple base plan, you can run copies of it to use for scratching out ideas and brainstorming with little or no erasing.

Try an artificial green wall it looks amazing no matter what the base fence is and it is no hassle no maintenance. It will turn your backyard into and oasis.

Upscapers