The Legend of York

A few weeks ago, I posted this crazy-colored image of our future homestead layout when describing the front courtyard, which will be our centerpiece in the landscaping, and the area that I will focus on the most, but there’s more going on behind the fence…

Here’s the legend for the map above:

Dashed line = fence

Tan = decomposed granite

Brown = deck

Grey = concrete (even the little squares—those are pavers)

Dark green blocks = garden/plants

Dark green circles = trees

Bright green = grass (duh)

Our backyard will be mostly grassy for the dogs, but to keep it in harmony with the front yard, we’ll continue to use concrete and decomposed granite for walkways and for our main driveway at the back of the lot.  Why two driveways?  Well, first up, it’s a corner lot and there are already two driveways carved out, so we might as well keep them.  The back driveway is not glamorous, but it’ll be large enough for several cars, and a little more secure with the gate, which makes the front drive more of a short-time parking thing (for visitors or deliveries).  Since the front drive won’t be used too often, it makes sense to blend it with the landscaping, or to really just call it hardscaping.

The other big feature of the backyard is the deck.  We will probably go with wood, as our budget won’t allow for much more.  The deck connects the two structures and gives us plenty of room to entertain out there.  I’d prefer that the deck was entirely shaded in some way, but that may have to wait a bit.  Until then, I really want to use the sail shades that I’ve discussed here a few times.  I also like the idea of running the decomposed granite along the deck to keep things clean and just to anchor it in the landscaping.  I have the deck designed as a triangle, but our developer had it as a larger L-shape.  I guess I cut it down to save a bit on price and to try a new shape in the yard…plus I like that the smaller deck off the master can mimic the shape.

And there are trees!  They’ll probably all be natives and fast-growing, shady ones.  We’ll also have an herb garden outside the kitchen either on the side of the house (outside of the guest room or kitchen in those rectangles above) or in terra cotta pots on the deck.  Our vegetable garden will grow along the studio in a long, skinny bed, which will make it easy to place trellises and to harvest throughout the year.  We’ll start with a small garden, as we have a pretty fantastic community garden just down the road, but we can expand if we want.

Another idea for the future: the back of the yard will probably be left completely open, just in case we want to add another shipping container to the lot someday…but I’m definitely getting ahead of myself now.