this is the easy living yards podcast

I’m your man with the playing host Ben

Hale let’s jump in and learn how to have

a healthy beautiful yard with less work

so you can enjoy more time doing what

you love what’s up and welcome to

episode 25 of the easy living yards

podcast today we are talking about

backyard landscaping ideas this is gonna

be a fun episode today guys I am super

excited because this is a fun topic that

I like to talk about and and to also

experiences just fun backyards so this

will be a fun one today and hopefully

you guys come away with some great ideas

for your backyard and how to transform

it into a wonderful space and I gotta

say – for today’s recording I’m also

excited to be recording this just

because it’s a beautiful day and I hope

you’re having a beautiful day too right

now and you know most people think this

would not be beautiful but it’s windy

it’s rainy right now but it’s just so

nice and comfortable at the same time

the the landscapes around me are just

they’re just teeming with life starting

to see lots of color come through in the

landscape and it’s just a fun time I

just enjoyed that and and even though

it’s rainy and even though it’s cloudy

and and windy that there’s just a lot of

beauty and it’s even just a fun

experience to be outside so if you’re

not a huge fan of the rain just think

about it you know this is feeding our

plants making our landscapes beautiful

and rain itself is just to me is always

something I’ve kind of enjoyed the one

asterisk or caveat there I have to say

is if it’s like 40 degrees out and it’s

rainy I’m not I’m not such a fan of that

but but if it’s nice a warm and it’s

rainy it’s just such a beautiful time

and it’s so nice to be out in the rain

sometimes so if you haven’t done that

and experienced the rain and a nice

comfortable setting consider doing so

because it’s just such a beautiful time

and I think a lot of people miss out on

it so anyway alright enough about that

let’s jump into it today so again we’re

gonna be talking about backyard

landscaping ideas and so when I think

about you know I usually before these

episodes what I do is I kind of sit down

and jot down a few notes which usually

turn into the show notes for the show

and so when I sat down and was thinking

about okay what am I going to talk about

today with backyard landscaping ideas

where my mind went is is what the

backyard is generally meant for or what

people usually think about with their

backyard and then also the specific

features of a backyard that you find so

when I think of a backyard and what most

people think of a backyard is that it’s

a place for fun and for leisure so your

front yard you know is like the grand

entrance to your house it’s bringing

people into your space and so it’s

welcoming you’re trying to bring people

in the backyard is a lot different and

so there’s a there’s a huge change in

the space as well because you’re not

trying to do the same thing with the

backyard you’re trying to relax to enjoy

life to to have fun and so those are the

kind of things I think about so a

backyard is a space to be entertaining

to be relaxing for for playing for

privacy for retreat I could keep going

but those are the kind of the top things

I thought about when I think about

backyards okay I had to take a quick

break there to pause the recording

because I had the windows cracked and

like I said it’s a little rainy and

windy so the wind started blowing in the

rain into the car and which is my

high-tech recording studio

I should phrase it that way right so the

wind started blowing into my high-tech

recording studio and all my expensive

podcast recording equipment was that

dire risk and so I had to pause this

recording anyway all right so when we’re

talking about backyards it’s also a

multifunctional space so here’s you know

again this isn’t the comprehensive list

here I put together but these are the

top things that came to mind when I

think about the the types of uses that

go into a backyard and the most common

ones I think of are a patio or deck a

play area an open yard space for running

around or certain activities storage a

vegetable garden fire pit and pool so

those are very very very different uses

but they all kind of get put into this

space of our yards you know of our

properties and in most often this stuff

gets put into our back yard and you know

sometimes a side yard or whatever but

but here we’re focusing on the back yard

and so these are some very diverse uses

of our yard and some of them are very

utilitarian some of them are are more

fun and entertaining but but our

backyards really need to serve a lot of

purposes in order to meet our needs and

to enjoy our lives and as a brief aside

here I have to say that for me when it

comes to properties the backyard is my

favorite and it’s you know it’s where

life happens that’s that’s to me why

it’s my favorite space of the yard is

because there’s so much stuff going on

there’s so much interaction between us

and the space and and so to me backyards

can just be they have the potential to

be just fascinating and fun and I don’t

you know for me personally I don’t feel

like the other parts of the property get

as much fun or value out of them as as a

backyard so you can have tons of beauty

and you can have tons of beautiful

interaction between the spaces in a

backyard and I don’t want to get you

know too deep here too artistic but to

me it’s just such a beautiful space that

you can you know even though sometimes

it doesn’t feel beautiful it has so much

potential for beauty I guess is what I’m

trying to say and and we can really make

our backyard such a wonderful place to

live and to enjoy and also serve our

needs and that’s why I love backyards

and you know I touched upon a little

piece there too of saying this is where

life happens that’s so important to me

because if you go all the way back to

episode 1

I talked about the right mindset for our

yard and for our life and usually we

have that flipped around just not even

on purpose we don’t even think about it

in our lives but are we let our yards

rule our life and instead we should we

should live our life before you know

letting our yard dictate what we do with

our life and so that’s what we’re all

about here is designing our yards in a

way where they’re beautiful they’re

functional and they meet our lifestyle

needs so we don’t have to be out there

taking care of them

to get the beauty we want out of them

and so that’s our goal here that’s our

primary goal is to have beauty but also

to have freedom and and so that’s again

why I love backyards is because there’s

so much potential for that for for us to

use our yards in a way where we can

enjoy it we can get life out of it and

and that’s what we’re all about so I’m

going to leave a link in the show notes

for episode one if you guys haven’t

listened to it I strongly encourage you

go back to listen to it because it it

just drills down deep into really why we

have our property in our landscapes and

and how they can serve our needs for us

to live our life more fully and and that

our life is way more important than what

we do with our landscapes and so if I

just want to make that abundantly clear

is is it’s such an important thing and

and that’s why we’re here talking about

these low maintenance landscapes that we

can design to to be beautiful to be

functional and to fit into our lifestyle

okay so let’s get back a little bit you

know on topic here with backyards

specifically so when we’re talking about

backyards with so many functions that we

have so many different uses of our

backyards so many different activities

that are going on it often feels

disjointed so it feels kind of broken up

or whatever you have different spaces

maybe kind of just rent it’s it almost

seems random right where you have

different things just kind of strewn

about your backyard because you don’t

really know how to put it together

because they’re so different right you

have maybe a storage shed on one spot

and then you have you know a jungle gym

for your kids and maybe you have a

little dog run space maybe you have a

pool and so how do you just kind of like

make it fit you know is it really even

something you can do can you make

everything kind of fit together without

just looking like a big space that you

have to trim around all the different

pieces of your yard with your trimmer

and you know kind of mow in in all sorts

of weird patterns to get around

everything well because it seems so

haphazard it can be difficult and and

this can lead like I said to extra work

to maintain your yard and so you might

have to end up moving things when you’re

mowing so moving like patio chairs or

fire pits or whatever or you have to mow

around them you have all sorts of

different spaces my growing up we had a

an above-ground pool in our backyard and

I remember we had you know to keep it

safe we had a little picket fence that

we had built around it and so it was

such a pain to to mow that space because

we had to weed trim around the fence and

then we had to go in the pool area you

know inside this fenced in area so open

up the gate take the push mower and go

all the way around it and and the mower

could barely fit around it in certain

spots but it was just such a pain to mow

and but you know it had to be done and

so all these different little bits of

the yard add to a lot of maintenance

that we aren’t really aware of as we’re

doing it but it adds a lot of time to

and a lot of effort to to maintain it so

how do we kind of you know tackle this

well when we have a properly designed

landscape we actually what we can do is

we can create individual spaces so each

space has a different purpose or a

different set of purposes and it kind of

breaks up the space a little bit and we

can design these spaces to also be low

maintenance a good design can also kind

of integrate things or bring bring

different spaces together so instead of

just having

you know individual spaces by themselves

what you do is you have these individual

spaces that are then kind of networked

together to to integrate them together

to bring them together into a you know

your one property that has multiple

different uses throughout and it has

good flow throughout so what this does

with a good design is you add unity to

your yard you add flow or progression to

your yard and you also had interest so

instead of just having you know a flat

lawn or or whatever you know a lawn that

might you might have a sloped yard right

but but just to have an open lawn with

you know your your jungle gym here and

your storage shed there and and maybe a

patio here and a pool there you kind of

have different spaces that are networked

through connected pathways or or just

openings in your space and at the same

time what you can do is you can reduce a

lot of your lawn that you have to

maintain with low maintenance plantings

or low maintenance borders and and in

doing so you’ve you’ve created

individual spaces that are kind of

connected together and they also take a

lot less work to maintain so that’s kind

of the goal here is to understand what

your needs are for your space and how to

create these different spaces for your

yard so when you have this good design

your backyard should basically it should

kind of welcome you outside from your

house it should pull you out of your

house you want to go into the landscape

you you want to go experience your yard

and once you’re there it also should

make you want to stay in the space so as

you’re thinking about ideas for your

yard for your backyard you should be

thinking okay what how would I want to

what would make me want to be out there

more what would make it feel more

welcoming is something preventing me

from feeling welcome in that space right

now and then once I’m there what would

make me want to stay out there what

would what would the feel be like or

what sort of design would make me want

to feel just comfortable and welcomed in

my own space instead of just there

instead of just you

your yard right you know I’m I’m in my

yard it’s nice whatever here’s the play

Jim instead it should be something like

well I’m experienced in my yard and

maybe this is kind of hard to grasp or

understand but basically that’s what

plants can do that’s what Gardens can do

is they can they can create space they

can create a feeling and or an emotion

and and so that’s what we’re trying to

do is to to make our yard have something

that tells us you know it tells a story

it and this doesn’t have to be something

deeper incredibly meaningful but just

something that it means you as you go

out you experience something different

so instead of just being out walking on

a carpet of lawn you’re outside

interacting with your landscape by

seeing different things

smelling different things feeling

different things or hearing different

things and that’s what I mean by your

landscape can tell you a story

it creates a different space as you go

through it okay now let’s let’s come out

of the deep philosophical level and get

back to some more idea based stuff all

right so when it comes to our backyard

when you’re thinking about design ideas

for your yard or what to do with your

backyard I want to ask you some

questions to consider so I don’t know

I’m gonna pause real quick I don’t know

if you guys can hear it but my my

recording studio right now is being

bombarded with some pretty heavy rain so

it’s kind of awesome I don’t know if you

guys can hear that or not but anyway I

don’t know if the microphone picks it up

maybe for your hearing pleasure maybe it

shouldn’t but um but right now it is

it’s very enjoyable actually so I kind

of love the fact that I’m recording

these episodes from my car cuz I just I

get to be outside and experience the

landscape as it happens and it’s kind of

fun so I’m not gonna lie sometimes it

gets a little warm or a little crazy but

it’s really nice right now okay so back

on track again alright so when we’re

thinking about questions to consider for

our lane

scape our backyard landscape these

questions really should help you frame

or understand what are the the primary

changes that needed to happen in your

yard what’s not working right now or

what could be better than right now or

how could you experience your yard

better than right now so that’s kind of

what these questions are meant to help

you understand

so first what are the existing functions

of your backyard and what are the

existing spaces of your backyard so if

you were kind of to divide it into

spaces what would those spaces be what

would those the functions of those

spaces be so I’ve kind of used these

examples already of you might have if

you have kids you you probably have some

sort of playground space or probably a

play gym in it or something right you

probably have like a storage area like

for tools and maybe a tool shed or

something you probably have something

like a patio or a deck or a gathering

space of some sort so each of these are

a space and they serve a function so

your patio is a function of

entertainment or relaxation your

playground is a space for fun for

activities for for relaxation as well

for playing your tool shed is a

functional space so you need it to store

things and you need it to serve your

needs when you’re working on things

right so each of these has a function as

well as a space designated for it so it

might not be a formal space but what we

can do is we can consider maybe turning

that into some sort of more formal

designated space and that allows that

space to have a specific need at the

right time in this specific location

that should be okay now that we’re

thinking about our existing functions

and our existing spaces I’m going to

change that a little bit change that

question and say what are the desired

functions and spaces that you want so it

could match exactly what you currently

have but maybe there’s not something

quite right about your space

maybe you want more space or a more

functional space for entertainment and

what would that look like or maybe you

want more of a designated play space

this is certainly true both of these

things are certainly true with our space

right now our backyard needs a lot of

work and I’ve touched on this in

previous episodes as we’ve been in this

house for gosh almost six years now but

most of that time has been focused on

taking care of the interior of the home

and making it livable and then also just

raising our family and so now we’re

starting to finally think about our

exterior of our house think about our

landscaping and certainly our backyard

could use some help as well and so for

the kids as they’re growing now old

enough to be able to play outside

somewhat independently the the play

space for them is kind of lacking and so

what the end up doing is they raid my

tool shed and end up playing with all my

tools which and they do pretty safely so

but they end up having a lot of fun as

well so we could really stand to have a

more expanded play space for them more

dedicated play space for the kids and

likewise for entertaining guests so so

these are two great examples for our own

yard as well okay what’s the current

access to your backyard into these

different spaces is there something that

may be restricting access so for us as

you come out our back patio door which

is the primary way to access the

backyard we have a deck and the deck is

fenced around the edge even though it

only stands maybe about a eight inches

off the ground so it’s a it’s a

ground-level deck and you have to walk

straight out the back instead of my most

common access is actually to the

toolshed when I go out back because we

don’t use our back yard for for other

purposes a lot right now but I have to

walk off the deck backward and then off

to the side to go to the toolshed as

opposed to having more direct access so

the deck actually restricts my access to

what I use it most for and so likewise

maybe you have a yard with a pool

right out your back door and that pool

may be fenced in so in order for you to

get to the rest of your yard you may

have to walk down some stairs off to the

side around the pool and then through a

gate that doesn’t have very direct

access to your yard and so that really

restricts access to any other functions

you might have in your backyard and so

that can be difficult likewise maybe you

have a dog fence close to your house to

allow your dogs to go outside but then

in order for you to get to the rest of

your yard you have to you maybe have a

small side gate that allows you to go

out to your backyard but just that

simple restriction can really impose on

your use of the remaining parts of the

yard and so these are just things to

consider is there something that

restricts access to a place that you

would use more often and this could just

be distanced – maybe you have a garden

right a vegetable garden but oftentimes

we place our vegetable garden way in the

back corner of our property well this is

something that should probably be

visited nearly every day of the growing

season either for weeding or watering or

harvesting and it’s it definitely makes

it much more difficult even though it

doesn’t seem like it when you plant it

to have that in the back corner over

your yard as opposed to right out the

back door or something like that so just

to consider is there something that

restricts your access to your current

space that you have or is there

something that might restrict access to

the desired space that you want so as

we’re thinking about ideas for backyard

design one thing could be is there some

way we can enhance this access without

you know having to majorly change

something we don’t want to fill in our

pool if it’s in the back but maybe we

can make it easier to access the other

areas so just consider that as you’re

thinking about changes ok next could you

create so-called rooms or spaces with

specific functions so what this does you

know when I’m talking about an outdoor

room a lot of times there is a some sort

of physical divide of plantings or a

hard scape structure

that actually divides the space between

two spaces and this doesn’t have to be

you know significantly established or

anything but it could just be some sort

of visual partition that slightly

designates one space from another and so

these outdoor rooms what they do is they

give it a sense of identity or purpose

to a space so instead of just having

kind of a giant open space with things

that seem kind of haphazard it shows a

deliberate placement of things by

landscaping around these spaces next is

there any unnecessary space that you

have or is another way to think about it

is there any extra space right so I have

certainly learned this in the past

several years with my own property is we

live on about a half an acre and that’s

you know kind of your typical mid to

late century size lot for suburbs and so

about a half an acre and at the time I

was like oh you know I’d really loved I

mean my goal eventually would be have

you know 20-plus acres of beautiful land

with some nice forests on it or whatever

but what I’ve realized too is a half an

acre of developed land is a lot of land

to maintain and so the reality is we end

up having a lot of space that really its

main use is maintaining and that’s not a

great thing to have and so the nice

thing would be to convert the unused

space or the so-called extra space into

a low maintenance space that just

provides beauty and may still provide a

function of framing other spaces or

providing a backdrop to other spaces or

things like that where it’s not

completely you know waste space

it’s just space that you don’t

frequently use and you don’t want the

primary use to be maintenance so what

you could consider for these unnecessary

space or extra spaces is something like

a low maintenance garden and what a low

maintenance garden can do is it can add

interest it could

the space it could also provide a visual

or a physical border and it could also

become a beautiful garden that allows

you to have a new area or a new function

for that space such as a contemplative

garden or reflection garden somewhere

that you can go to escape or your kids

can go to escape or to explore and and

so these spaces don’t have to be

completely just left untended or unused

I guess is a better word but they could

have some level of access to them or

through them that provide interest that

provide fun or beauty and and therefore

this so called unused space becomes a

low maintenance space that has a

newfound use to it so in that way you’re

actually more fully utilizing your yard

with less work which is awesome okay so

now that I’ve given you a few ways to

think about how to change your yard

let’s talk about some cool ideas of what

you could do with your yard and this to

me is super fun stuff and I want to fill

you guys with some ideas and I certainly

want to hear from you as well if you

have any great ideas head on over to the

podcast episode page which a link will

be in the show notes and there you can

leave a comment and share your ideas as

well for for other listeners to hear as

well which is super cool as well alright

so here are a few ideas that I listed

out of cool things you could do for

functional spaces with your backyard so

the first and these are these aren’t in

any specific order so this is just what

first pops in my head here was creating

a sense of mystery and if you think

about the typical backyard right this is

why I thought about this first is the

typical backyard is so wide open and it

just kind of it’s just almost like

everything is just kind of thrown out

there right so by creating a sense of

mystery to your space what I mean is

you’re visually hiding some stuff to

where you actually you’re drawn out or

think of a guests coming to your house

they’re drawn out into the backyard to

kind of see what’s in that space or see

to fully experience that space close up

and so by

of obscuring some things in a attractive

way with plantings and arrangements of

plants that allows you to create this

sense of mystery or create the sense of

suspense to experience that space up

close so you can see what’s in it so

next you could divide your space into

functions and we already talked about

this somewhat and this is the idea of

creating rooms in your backyard right so

you might have your patio and your deck

but maybe it’s not you know its own

unique experience so kind of in a way

like enclosing that patio somewhat but

not to way it feels restricting but just

so it feels separate or unique of a

space and then it opens you up into the

next space to experience and so on and

so forth next consider placing the best

places as close as possible or the most

frequently used places as close as

possible so when I think about this I

used some examples earlier but the patio

in the vegetable garden right so if

you’re out there pretty frequently

consider placing it closer to where it

can be used more easily with less effort

so let’s say let’s face it if you’re

sitting there watching TV right and

you’re up on your feet are propped up on

the couch shoes off just relaxing and

you’re like oh I forgot to go water the

garden today and it needed to be water

because it hasn’t rained right well if

it’s all across the backyard and you

know maybe it’s just kind of cluttered

or dirty or whatever outside you’re not

gonna want to go traipsing all the way

across your yard as likely as you would

if it was something where you could just

kind of pop out back real quick right

next to your back door and kind of you

know put some water on your garden a

little bit step into the garden see if

you have any fresh tomatoes and then pop

right back inside so maybe I’m you know

exaggerating just a little bit but but

the reality is not much because as soon

as the mind has some sort of barrier in

place to an activity it’s much less

likely to do it and so consider placing

your

best or most frequently used places as

close as possible to your house what

about a secret kids play area I mean

think about it as a kid most of us had

some sort of like cool secret place that

we loved to go to and putting that in

your yard to where your kids can kind of

you know it’s their separate world it’s

somewhere they can go and they can hide

and they can explore they can imagine

and and do you know fun activities back

there they can be pirates or whatever

right I love to be in a pirate by the

way my favorite actually was probably

being an Indian you know that’s what we

called it back that I know it’s not

always the accepted term but you know

playing cowboys and Indians I love to be

an Indian because my and uncle gave me

this awesome like Indian chief

headdresses that when I was a kid and it

was pretty cool not gonna lie

all right so the secret kids play area

can be something fascinating for your

kids and something where it can be

designed to be safe and to be fun and to

be explorative at the same time so just

consider something like that for your

kids what about a reflection garden for

you your family your friends your guests

that come over so this could be kind of

a little bit of an escape right an

escape from the hustle and bustle of the

world somewhere you can go to reflect to

relax or something like that creating

some pollinator habitats is something

that’s good for the landscape greater

outside of you right outside of your own

property so something that can attract

beneficial insects and birds into your

yard your property for for just your own

visual enjoyment as well as just to

create some good habitat for the world

around us something to consider there

what about a private retreats is similar

to a reflection area right so a private

retreat could be something even more

secluded somewhere that you can kind of

go to escape again or just you know just

to relax it could be somewhere that you

have like an outdoor chair

that you can go read in and you know

just to experience a different space

that feels totally separate from the

rest of your property what about a party

pad right so in increasing the

entertainment value of your backyard so

instead of just having you know your

typical deck with a grill maybe

expanding that somehow maybe space wise

but also just function wise so what

could you do to to make it feel more

comfortable for guests what would sound

like more fun what has more space for

entertaining maybe it could be as simple

as if you go think about like in public

spaces you go you see these

multifunctional pieces so what I’m

talking about specifically is is a lot

of public parks they have these walls

they’re low walls that serve as a border

to divide spaces between different

functional spaces or just different

visual spaces but a lot of times with

these these walls serve as two is a seat

and so could you have something like

that where it’s a multifunctional piece

that separates your entertaining space

from maybe your play space but it also

serves as additional seating for your

guests to to relax and to enjoy the

space more okay what about a hobby space

so maybe you have a specific hobby that

you could you could put a part of your

unique self into your yard and so

creating space that enables your hobbies

your primary hobbies more or your

family’s hobbies or makes it feel like

part of your so think of a very typical

one that some people do is like a

putting green right so people that love

golf they’ll put in a little putting

green just to practice and to have fun

well maybe your family loves the beach

maybe you could put in like a beach like

area that it’s kind of you know a little

secluded space that you can get a little

Sun in and have some fun I feel like

you’re on the beach or something but it

could be something more than just the

you know the experience of relaxation

maybe it’s something that if you’re an

artisan that gives you a creative space

to actually work outside on your on your

work and to be out in a more creative

space than inside a physical structure

when there’s good enough weather – to do

your woodworking or your painting or

whatever your artwork may be ok what

about a pet hangout if you have a pet a

lot of times these days let’s face it

our pets are a part of our family and so

creating a space that’s also fun and

conducive for both you and your pet can

be something that can really add to the

rewarding experience of pet ownership

and so how does your pet view your space

and what’s the most conducive way to

have a space that you enjoy and allows

your pet to enjoy as well and the last

idea I have here is what about a heat

retreat and so what I mean by this is

somewhere you can experience the outdoor

just more outdoors than you’re you

typically would during the hot summer

months right so something that could

provide you a retreat from all the hot

weather and you can still be outside so

specifically here is shaded areas that

allow open breeze to flow through and so

it cools the space by having openness to

allow breeze to come into your space but

also plenty of shade at the same time to

provide you shade from the Sun and an

exposure and you can relax more in that

space at more times of the day

throughout the year ok so guys that’s

primarily what I have today I hope those

ideas kind of got your wheels turning

that’s obviously not a comprehensive

list of what you could do with your

backyard but just some ideas that I came

up with quickly – to really kind of help

you start to think about what could you

really do with your yard what would be

fun to do with your yard and what would

be fun for your family in your yard as

well so remember this isn’t just about

you but also your family and how they

might experience it and how you guys

could get the most out of that space

while saving the most work on that space

at the same time so I kind of want to

wrap up there for the day check out the

links in today’s show notes I mentioned

a few episodes I’m also going to throw

in a link to episode 5 which talks about

design

so some good design basics that you can

really enhance your work in your

landscape if you follow some of these

design basics it can really enhance the

beauty of your space all right guys

that’s pretty much a wrap for the day so

if you have any questions about this

topic on today’s episode or maybe any

other previous episodes or you just come

across something in your yard that you

have a question on just shoot me a note

and you know over at easy living yards

comm slash pod there’s a button right at

the top that says ask a question and you

can get featured on the podcast if you

like if you’d rather not just let me

know that you’d rather not have your

question featured but ask me a question

I’m happy to get back to you and try and

answer as best I can

regarding your question and likewise if

you guys if this just seems overwhelming

maybe you’re having a difficulty really

coming up with some good ideas for your

space or you really having difficulty

trying to conceptualize how you can

actually create a better unified space a

better more functional space with your

yard well I do offer consultation if

that’s something right for you check it

out at easy living yards comm slash

consulting and of course along with the

question link I have a link for that in

the show notes as well so I look forward

to hearing from you and I also look

forward to talking to you guys in the

next episode so with that guys thanks

for tuning in and make sure you live

with passion and make tomorrow better

than today

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