I'll echo the sentiment that beeziboy's pvc work is inspiring. (I actually was browsing the forum looking for ideas on the best ways to support flowering vines for a hummingbird area -- having taken one person's advice to "think vertical" -- and now am contemplating the advantages of PVC over wood, metal and wire. Thin black PVC pipes could actually make a nice contrast in front of the adobe-colored shed, and would never rust or rot or need painting...) And my respects to someone who served in the Solomon Islands in WWII. From what I've read, it's the kind of environment where you're lucky if the plants and insects (and occasional giant lizard) don't eat YOU, much less introducing new food crops there!

For the most part it seems that you have a blank slate to work with. The new trees were installed in locations prior to the development of a comprehensive plan which means that they could by happenstance be in the right place. Or, they might end up being more useful if they were relocated. One would not know what is best to do with them UNTIL an overall plan is created. So far, the goals (shade for dog and space for camellias) seem vague. Are there other goals such as to screen neighboring properties? How many Camellias will be grown and in what form? ... tree or shrub? It's time to start tightening up goals and to start working things out on paper. Even though you say you're "not good at designing," you'll be able to do some basic organizing with help from the forum. It would be time to create a base plan of the back yard on some graph paper. I recommend printing some from here: virtual graph paper you can print. Use the lightest line weight and 10 lines to the inch as a place to start. In the drawing, show the house, fence, gates and where the existing trees are located. (And any other important feature that we can't see.) Show the patio paving and any walks, but for now, not the patio roof. Once this is done, you'll be faced with answering the questions that have been posed and considering how large to make the lawn vs. how much space to devote to planting bed(s) ... and where they will be. Maybe you could take a crack at this much and post the results...? And have no fear of failure as it won't do you any good.

Sunshine: I am growing a watermelon now and I have a few fruits ripening on the vine. I’m hoping they manage to get there before the temperatures drop. I have tried in the past but vine borers have always gotten to them and killed the plant. This is the first year my melons have made it through unscathed and I think it’s because I planted them a little too late. It’s amazing how quickly the fruit grows. I took this first picture on Friday and the second this morning. All that growth in just one weekend!

Some of the first forums I found were almost 20 years ago when our house was new. The ones I found and connected with were iVillage and here, mostly about garden design and planning, bluebird nest box monitoring, and ponding. I was turning a lot of bare ground into mostly shrub and perennial gardens and found a lot of useful info. I didn’t know anything about bluebird nest habitats and found a wealth of knowledgeable people on that forum. Ponds not so much, as there were many who already had beautiful established ponds and were happy to show them off. A handful of people had advice but it was always scattered. There were a couple of others I visited on occasion but they seem to be gone. I don’t recall how I found my way over here, maybe through baths and kitchens, but likely because I needed decorating help. I also found a gardening site which is still around but requires a paid subscription. I literally met some people from my area when we met at a garden show a couple of times and also had a get together a couple of hours from my home. We communicated a lot and some of us still do on FB, although we have dropped our subscriptions. The website also was bought out and isn’t quite the same. I joined NextDoor and it is fairly active in our rural area now. And I also have been a sometimes contributor on Trip Advisor for quite a while. I always go there to look at reviews anyway when we plan a vacation. I’m not religious about writing stuff but do when something stands out.