I'm no expert but I'd say just commit a Saturday knock all those brushes out. It's hard to visualize with all the wild commotion. I'd just go in with a lawnmower or weedwacker level the thing. If you down own one I know you can rent them from alot of hardware stores. I see alot of potential here though. Good luck!

I would never trade my little green acre for your small garden area but was confronted with many of the same challenges when I moved here. My first step (thanks to some books I read) was to orient myself so I'd know where each part of the garden got full/part sun vs. which received full/part shade. Note: best/recommended time to do that is on the summer solstice (June 21). Next challenge is to know your soil, whether it's clay or sandy. Some plants thrive in sandy soil such as I have in my garden so I tend to plant those or else grow them from seed. I steer clear of things that prefer clay.

Once you know how much sun your garden area receives + what type soil you have, then you can begin to design/plan your garden.

I live on a rural acre in southern New England but there are plenty of folks in the vicinity with power tools. I think the name of the machine you'd need is a Brush-Hog to clear the invasive/self-sown weeds. My neighbors helped me out with that.

Once you've taken the first steps, you can turn your attention to design and what you'd like to see when you walk out your door. My goal was to sustain pollinators--bees, butterflies & hummingbirds--since they're rapidly disappearing. Your goal may be simply to have a garden that pleases your eye at the end of the day. I'm rewarded each season since mine does both.

I grow perennials in my garden beds. Perennials come up & bloom year after year. Those in my garden beds require zero/minimal maintenance since I researched them with that in mind. I grow annuals in containers because they bloom or thrive each growing season. Annuals don't come back from one year to the next.

You're welcome to ask more questions. There are lots of folks here who will offer their own experience so you can anticipate the problems you may face as well as the rewards you can expect.

BTW - I know someone who gardens in a similar small space who's garden is AMAZING!!

If that were mine, I'd take a 10' x 10' section at a time, clean out the weeds, and see what is there. You don't want to kill desirable plants that you may be able to salvage. I had a horrible mess in one yard I had, and discovered in the spring when they bloomed that there was a huge bed of perennials covered over with vines and weeds. I carefully cleared out the weeds and moved the plants to different places in the yard. I don't know about where you live, but here we can call the utility company to remove vines from power lines. That looks like something you may have to do, even though that line isn't in your yard, the vines can cause outages, so I'd take care of that.

Slow and steady is the way to go with a mess like that, unless you just want to hire someone to chop it all down and start over.

They are just plants. You don't NEED power tools, just some muscle, a sharp spade, clippers and maybe a saw. Funny how a tree can take three years to be a sapling and you can saw through it in 5 minutes. :/

Anyway, all have made great suggestions above, but I would caution that if you pull it all out without any plans to replace anything, you will get a mess of mud and risk losing your topsoil. Don't cut or pull the grassy weeds at this point - just mow.

For the vines and bushes, try to dig them out by the root system. Cutting the top will not kill as they store reserves underground and will attempt to resprout. For large bushes / vines, the root systems will be too big. That's fine - cut the top as low to the ground as possible. Note you might have to cut any sprouts for a few years afterwards.

Looks like a good amount of space and sun!

oh wow... Well nothing to it but to get started.

First borrow someone's weedwacker or lawn mower or cutting tools. You'll need a large garden fork, a spade. and garden scissors,

Next start wacking away. Make sure you are protected against noxious weeds like poison ivy.

Pile up the cuttings (except for noxious weeds, in a corner to rot away.. (making compost)

Then try to uproot old plants. If that's an impossibility, you can simply smother their access to sunlight using thick layers of newspapers and cardboards and throwing compost on top the cardboard. Plant away making sure the plants have access to the soil beneath the paper or cardboard.

Goodluck.

These are the very best designs. Small spaces can be so much fun. It's all about hiring a designer who has the vision. The weeds can be cut away and the space can be created. Start with a component list (Wants and needs) then design around your list.

Doug, I would be very interested in seeing what you have done, if anything to your yard. If nothing, I would suggest that you first make a complete list of what you want the yard to do for you. Patio, shade, flowers gardens, vegetable gardens, entertain, relax, or just look good. What kind of maintenance do you what? Low, medium, lots? Any garden will require some, mind you. Then you draw a plan and take it to a nursery. If money is an issue, they can help you with long term plans. If money is not an issue, hire a landscape architect like VizX says. What ever you do, please share photos... we love photos.

You can always start with the suggestion of #gardenweed_z6a. My old house garden was done in a similar manner. We were living in Kitchener. It had just been around 4 months since we shifted to Toronto. We had this team who were awesome in garden sheds in Kitchener. They helped us in building a small 8x4 Algonquin shed to the exterior wall with accessories required to hold and store gardening and watering tools and products. They provided me with garden beds and window flower boxes. The outlook on the space was very awesome. I am planning to call them over again to do a good work on my present home here at Toronto. Am happy that they have a service here too.