Small backyard section, not a very good gardner!!

[destinygirl]

Hey!

So i have this patch of dirt in the back yard that my boyfriend wants to put crush stone down on. andi would rather do something nice looking.

Ok so here are the details (i will add pictures too, one I drew, and some i took outside)

The square is 10 x 13 and there is a long patch between the fence and deck is about 6 feet (a lot bigger than i thought!!)

So the problems:
1) Ok so i have ZERO gardening skills
2) one side is the fence, the other is the house, (other side of the walkway), the other side is our enclosed sled trailer. So it probably wont get a lot of light.

Help ? Suggestions?



The brown spot is the area that is dirt!

Added real pics too

[Eeyore]

What about a stone patio with shrub beds around the edge.

[ViridianFields]

Hmm. Sort of a difficult spot... Do you need the space to be used for anything, ie: does a walkway need to go through there?

[Venice]

I would definitely put a walkway through to the front, perhaps stepping stones, or a pebble walkway (with landscape fabric)

Here's a few ideas. I like the idea of an arbor, you could get one with a gate as well. This would be a street view.



Here is the how to blog. http://edenmakersblog.com/?p=893



http://www.thegardenplanner.org/Portfolio/index.html

[ViridianFields]

I'm with Ven, specially if there's no front access otherwise (or only through the house). Actually, that walkway with the arbor was sort of what I was thinking, but with a more solid pathway. You should leave the crushed rock for building roads and driveways, where it belongs, for a number of reasons. First, it's not overly attractive. Second, it gets weeds easily and doesn't drain overly well (unless it's been screened to a certain size, so there are no smaller particles to block water movement). Third, it sucks to walk on in bare, sock, sandal, and flip flop feet. And fourth, it's unattractive (did I mention this already? ).

Consider growing some vines on the fence, adding a bench and a walkway, and planting a border on either side of the walkway. Then the space will be both beautiful and functional, rather than being a patch of gravel that you have to look at day after day.

[Eeyore]

That is an amazing side yard!

2 things to keep in mind though...... how much sun does it get and do the meter readers need access? Our side yard gets virtually no sun and we ended up putting a brick walk in there. Then I put baskets on the fence posts but DH and the meter readers both complained about them being in the way so they had to go.... Wimps!