Blank slate yard - landscape design help needed!

5 years ago

Hi all - new homeowners here and we're looking for help designing our yard. I've included a few photos and an aerial plan w/ dimensions. Main objectives are to:

1. Convert most of the lawn to more drought tolerant/diverse greenery

2. Include a West-facing seating area toward the back of the yard w/ a fire pit and shade

3. Add a couple of raised beds for veggies

4. Would like to have some grass for the dog

Yard gets gets a lot of Los Angeles sun throughout the day (Western edge of yard lit from 7am-5pm) and prevailing winds are W-SW. Access is via the kitchen's back door from inside the house, or through a fence across the driveway. We will also be extending the fence on the West side to the front of the house to add a 'side yard' and give the bedroom windows a bit more privacy.

We're pretty overwhelmed, so any/all suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Plan / Photos below:

West View (neighbor's detached garage along west fence). We would like to cover this wall with our own fence.

North View

East View (our own detached garage and shed)

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Comments (4)

jck910
5 years ago
Not a landscaper but my first thought is to cut a 6 foot deep bed around the perimeter and plant bushes (ones that are recommended by your local nursery not HD or Lowe's) to hide the fences, garage wall and cinder block wall. Then determine the best place for the raised beds, preferably by the shed. What is the dirt area for?
Alex thanked jck910
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Yardvaark
5 years ago

Don't think of this as a plan, but as an unfinished, tweakable scheme that could be a starting point for figuring out a layout. At the beginning, don't focus on planting, but on hardscape and layout geometry. The planting will adjust to it. There's still a good bit of the back yard that is hidden from us ... the back of house and west side of garage.

About running a fence across the neighbor's garage, I presume the goal is to hide as much of the garage as possible. The problem is that you'll only be able to hide part of the wall with a fence that ends up, after weathering, to be probably not as good looking as the wall could be if it had new paint. There might be regulations against doing this because it would prevent your neighbor from accessing his wall for maintenance or inspection purposes. Consider conferring with the neighbor and explain the dilemma. Since he can't see it, he may be completely fine with you painting the wall the color of your choice. I doubt he's given any thought before.
Alex thanked Yardvaark
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Alex
Original Author
5 years ago
Thank you both for the comments, @Yardvaark and @jck910. Nailing down layout and hardscape first makes sense. @Yardvaark - I'm assuming the brown/gray concentric circles in your image are a fountain on some DG or other surface?

We definitely want to ring the yard in, either with raised planters or trees as you suggested. We'd also considered trellises with some kind of climbing plant
PRO
Yardvaark
5 years ago
"I'm assuming the brown/gray concentric circles in your image are a fountain on some DG or other surface?" I thought they were a fire pit made of whatever materials you chose.