I took some pictures and uploaded them to Photobucket. I will also upload a sketch with what is currently in our yard and some ideas we have for possible changes. I have a sketch with exact measurements and locations of trees, etc., but it's too big to scan in so I'll have to do a basic sketch on some smaller paper as soon as I get a chance. The dimensions of the backyard are almost exactly 80' wide by 80' deep. It appears to be deeper than it is wide, but maybe that's because the veggie garden (which is 15' wide by 47' deep) takes up a good chunk of the east side of the yard. I really like the idea of going to some favorite nurseries and collecting business cards from designers. I was trying Google searches and met with one company whose work looked nice, but it turns out that they don't do design work without being locked into a contract with them to do the bulk of the landscaping work. We'd have to sign a contract (telling them our budget range) and they would draw up plans within that range and do most of the work, subbing out stuff they don't do themselves, with the design being part of the package deal. I think I'd rather work with someone who has more flexibility in allowing us to do parts of the work ourselves without being penalized for it. lazygardens and butterflygardening: Thanks for the helpful links- I am reading through them! alygal- We love the idea of raising chickens (or ducks!), but unfortunately our city doesn't allow them in residential areas. Some of the towns around us havejust recently started allowing them, so maybe it will be a possibility in the future! Here are some of our current ideas for making our yard more attractive and usable in the ways we'd like to use it. - Possibly ditch the sandbox, although I am torn because the kids do use it when it's nice outside. The problem is that it's so close to the house that they always come in still covered with sand, AND it's location really limits the width of the planting bed around the breakfast nook. If we keep the sandbox, I think I'd at least make the flagstone path along it more narrow to allow for a slightly wider bed there. - Widen pretty much all of the beds to allow more layered planting (to increase attractiveness and privacy in the yard). I would also like to have a nice bed along the patio and around where the sandbox is, so basically be left with an area of the grass in the middle of the yard. - Possibly add a slight berm along the garden fence and plant a variety of shrubs and small trees to make the garden less prominent since it's not much too look at most of the year. - Make the patio more usable by extending it a little deeper (it's now 20' wide by 10' deep). - Add something to get more shade on the patio. It gets shade starting in the mid-afternoon and through the evening from our neighbors house to the west, so I don't really want to add a hard cover (my husband's idea) because I think it would detract from the look of the house. I am thinking a well placed tree would eventually have the right effect (and I'm content to use a patio umbrella as needed until then). - Add a screened in gazebo (about 12' x 12') south of the patio area toward the south side of the yard for dinners and entertaining. My husband is a mosquito magnet so he really wants this for enjoying the yard in the evenings. - Add a structure toward the southeast corner of the yard (about 8' x 10') to be used as a playhouse/garden retreat. I picture it looking like a little cottage style potting shed more than a mini playhouse, so that even after the kids outgrow it, I can still enjoy it as a garden retreat. - Revise current pathways through the yard and add pathways as needed to new structures, to the veggie garden/shed, etc. Would like to maybe use some reddish flagstone in addition to the buff ones we currently have and mix them up a bit as the buff looks so bland to me against our house. - Possibly cover the patio with flagstone to make it more attractive and more cohesive with pathways. Thanks for any advice or suggestions you may have. Here is a link that might be useful: Backyard Pictures

Ok, I'm not sure I am reading your diagrams correctly so bear with me if I'm way off base. But it appears to me you are wasting a lot of space with so many paths, and overly narrow paths at that, just to have so many different beds. So my first question would be why so many beds? More beds is not necessarily more productive or more useful than fewer but bigger beds would be. Is the E-W directional placement of the beds what is limiting you? If so, then that isn't any sort of absolute "law". Lots of gardeners use N-S beds quite successfully and they can be easy to compensate for the direction by arranging plantings and crop rotation. And it would appear that in your case using a N-S orientation would allow for a much more effective use of space. 3' or 4' wide beds that could be 12, 14, or even 18 feet long. For example using Version 7 diagram, one 3x14 foot long bed could abutt up to the patio edge on one side and you'd have a 3' path between it and the green tree band on the east. Follow m? 1' wide paths are basically useless for any practical purposes and 2' paths aren't much better. You'll live to regret those narrow spaces. So on the south side, if you feel you MUST run E-w then combine some of those many tiny beds into fewer larger ones OR make 2 N-S beds that are 4'x-24' long with 3 foot wide paths all around. Much less wasted space, more growing space, essentially the same amount of fill required, and I would argue more attractive than having a bunch of tiny little beds crammed together. Make sense? Dave

Roughly, what is the dollar figure you don't want to exceed and where do you live?

love your ideas.