Backyard Garden Ideas: Our In-Progress Landscape
Our backyard is still a work in progress. Between the mature trees, wildlife visitors, and all the ideas swirling around in my head, I thought it would be fun to share where we’re at. And some of the backyard garden ideas I’m dreaming up for this space.
This post is a little peek at our backyard in its current in-progress state. It’s nowhere near finished, but honestly, we already feel really grateful to have such a big, nature-filled space to work with.
The yard is large and L-shaped. There was a lot behind the neighbors’ house that was purchased many years ago by my father-in-law. At the rear of the yard, it drops down about 50-100 feet to a large meadow. The meadow has a few little creeks running through it that connect to the inlets several miles away.
Our yard is also full of very large, mature trees. For all of these reasons, it’s a nature and wildlife haven. Over the years, I often wondered why my in-laws didn’t add a pool or a patio, considering they had the space. Then, one day, I realized that by not doing so, they preserved the park-like feel.
So while my husband and I are now making this our own, my main goal is to preserve that feeling.
All the photos in this post are candid cell phone photos I’ve snapped over the past year or so. The one above is late summer last year, after we finally moved the mountain of construction dirt that had piled up.
landscaping around the shed
We have one standard shed closer to our house. This actually had to be moved during construction because the township said it was too close to the new addition. Because it was moved, it messed up the existing landscaping around it, and also left a big flat area where it was originally.
The shed photo above was taken shortly after we moved in; everything was just placed there to deal with later.
When we moved, we stuck our patio set in the flat area where the shed had been, so it was out of the way (see picture below). But after living here a while, we realized that the big, flat area was an ideal spot for a patio.
Though we didn’t do much in the yard last year, we did plant a row of evergreen bay laurel shrubs along this future patio area. They will grow large and provide a nice backdrop that will hide the old fence, which is the neighbor’s.
Late in the fall last year, I used existing stones we had to create a landscape border around the shed. I figured that with that part prepped, I could add flowers this year as I figure out my garden bed ideas for this yard.
I added a trellis on this side of the shed, which I brought with me from our last house. My goal is to have a climbing hydrangea vine grow on this shed exactly like we did in the last house. I even dug that vine up -which was NOT easy – and brought it with me here. Sadly, it did not survive.
Since that didn’t work, I recently planted climbing hydrangea vine seeds in that area. I’ve also planted perennial flower seeds around the shed, and I’m hopeful all of those will take.
I’ve also considered painting this shed, as I did in our old yard. I’d love to paint it to match the house, but my husband is totally on board with that idea. I may revisit that later.
creating a bluestone patio
Considering we already have a nice patio set and this flat area where the shed was, we went ahead with plans to add a patio. We did have to hire help for this because we used large, irregular blue stones for the patio. They’re insanely heavy!
Below, you can see the area prepped for those patio stones.
They were set about two weeks ago. My husband and I are going to add sod in between these ourselves.
When looking at the photo above, try to imagine a wall of tall evergreens along the fence, flowers in the borders, and lush grass between the stones. That will give you a sense of how this will hopefully look one day!
side yard progress
One of my favorite things about planning our outdoor spaces is collecting backyard garden ideas and imagining what this nature-filled property could become over the next few years.
The side yard was really destroyed during construction (as most of the landscape was). This cluster of flowers bordered the shed before it was moved. I didn’t want to lose these, but moving them would have been too much. So this area became the other end of our patio landscape.
I added more border stones here, and my husband worked hard to get grass to grow here again, as he is doing with the whole yard. It’s been difficult because of all the clay dug up during construction, which ended up all over the yard.
Here is how it looks currently: the grass has filled in nicely, and we’ve made good progress.
future potting shed
In the far back of the yard, we have another shed that was built many years ago by my father-in-law. My in-laws lovingly called this shed The Veranda, because it overlooks the meadow.
I LOVE this little building with its charming cedar shake shingles. It’s nestled between the mature trees like a storybook cottage.
However, it is in need of lots of love and updating.
There are holes in the roof, missing gutters, unlevel floors inside, and shutters that are falling off. But my husband and I do plan to save this shed and get it fixed up. That project is currently on the back burner, but I am hoping we can get to it this year.
We plan to make this a potting shed. The first shed closer to the house can hold the mower, some tools, and other shed stuff. For the potting shed, I have a super clear vision of how I want to set this up inside, and it’s so good!
It’s so peaceful back there; it’s my favorite spot to sit.
I look forward to sharing more on this as soon as we get to it.
future secret garden
Across from the veranda (aka future potting shed) is a garden area bordered by stones. It contains a beautiful concrete statue and a fish pond. This was my mother-in-law’s garden, and it’s very peaceful.
During construction, this area (and the whole yard) was basically neglected, so it was in need of cleaning up. Last year, I intentionally left this alone so I could get a sense of what flowers were growing out here. I didn’t want to pull anything until I knew.
In the meantime, one of my backyard garden ideas for this space is in progress. Though I wanted to leave this area intact, I did want to enhance it.
To do that, my idea was to plant evergreen shrubs all the way around the perimeter of this area, almost like a secret garden.
Fortunately, my husband was on board with this idea. We ended up using boxwoods as the border. We planted one side last year, got two more sides done this spring, and currently, we have the boxwoods sitting in our truck for the final side.
I also wanted to add a stone path through this garden, around the fish pond. This spring, when I finally got around to cleaning up and weeding this space, I was shocked to find it was already there. Rain had washed a layer of dirt over most of the stones, so I didn’t realize this was already in place. That was a sweet surprise.
In the photo above, you can see an arbor. That was old and in bad shape, so we took it down. Instead, my husband is going to build me two arbors. One to place there and one on the side. This way you can walk in one, through the path, and out the other side.
The only other thing I added to this space is a vintage bistro set. When I bought it, I intended to resell it at the antique shop. But when I got it home, it was such a perfect fit here that I couldn’t part with it.
Below is another view of this area from last year. The only downside is that the back, side yard has a chain link fence that borders the neighbors’ properties from the next street. One view is the back of their shed, and the other is the back of another neighbor’s above-ground pool.
That side takes away from the nature-inspired feel, so the first thing we did last year was plant a row of evergreen bay laurels along that fence. Eventually, they will create a wall of greenery to block that out, much like the emerald green arborvitaes we used in our old house.
Natural backyard ideas
We are amazed at the amount of wildlife we see daily in this yard. We have deer, fox, raccoons, bunnies, squirrels, and even a skunk. They all seem to coexist harmoniously, even the two stray cats.
Another thing we have a lot of is invasive ivy. Rather than try to fight that, I’m trying to work with it. Climbing ivy really adds to that storybook cottage garden look.
We are working mostly with what we have here and really taking our time and enjoying the progress.
Our backyard may not be finished yet, but I hope sharing the process gives you a few backyard garden ideas for creating a beautiful outdoor space, one project at a time.
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