Hi KS. I saw some photos you posted in another thread, but now I can't find them. I saw a 2 story white house with wood siding and a 2nd story deck, lot sloping toward the back. It appeared to be mostly grass and dirt in the back, and was that a driveway going down to the small shed at the property line? Then a nice green wooded area behind you, lots of tall, dense trees. I can imagine a graded patio off the back of the house bordered by a low stone retaining wall, with steps down to a grass terrace that can serve as a driveable surface for the rare instances you need to drive down to the shed. Then a third lower terrace, densely planted with medium-height mounding shrubs that will flower seasonally, maybe even a small water feature. The patio will have to be fairly wide and deep to contain a fire feature in a safe location. Consider the direction of prevailing winds, and how you will sit around the fire -- permanent bench seating? A collection of comfortable outdoor seating? Be sure the patio is large enough to allow for all that. Plan your lighting at the same time -- uplights built into the patio floor? Overhead strings of lights? Lanterns on low posts on either side of the steps? A lot will depend on your budget; terraces and stone retaining walls will be expensive, but will add value to your home and your family will enjoy them for many years to come.

Hi Jon, I feel like I just took a ride on your lawnmower around your house. The unfortunate thing about your video is we only get a few seconds here and there when the camera points up from the ground to show the house and shed. Landscape design is intended to pull the house and garden together in a complementary fashion. We saw the problems that are most on your mind, but not the big picture. Weeds -- there are several weed killing products on the market. Use one of them that has glyphosate. If you read the label and follow instructions, you can use it safely and be rid of the weeds. Repeated use will rid you of the Japanese knotweed, too. Persistent treatment until weeds are under control is essential. A common mistake is to spray, then let the next crop of weeds grow and go to seed before treating again. If a weed is allowed to grow and produce seed, the cycle is perpetuated. Kill kill kill! Then you're done. About moving the garden -- veggie garden, right? It should be located in the sunniest spot in the garden -- south facing, no trees overhanging, no tree roots to compete with your plantings. (In the video we only see the base of the trees -- whatcha got there?) I hope this won't come off as too harsh, but simply removing debris would really make a difference. The scattered bricks and wood planks, pots and whatever make it look like a yard sale after a hurricane. (yes, I exaggerate) But a tire? Come on Jon. :-) Rent a pickup or a dumpster and haul it all away, or put it away in the shed. Firewood, okay, I get that, but split the logs and make a neat stack along the fence with the firewood and nothing else. No random "parts" of this and that. Imagine yourself putting along on a ride-on lawnmower with nothing hidden in the grass, just relaxing and cutting the grass, enjoying your green space. Nice!

One other maintenance related landscaping consideration is how much water fowl it might attract as it matures... mainly if you have creeks or ponds in your neighborhood. We're in the Richardson area less than a block away from a park with a normally duck-filled creek running through it. We originally had the bed along our raised pool edge planted with mostly evergreen 'Ballerina' Indian Hawthorn,'Edward Goucher' abelia, and dwarf pampas grass (that turned out to be a mis-tagged standard) which the local mallards loved for the heavy cover they provided during their February to June nesting window. Initially we loved their visits, but as many as three nesting pairs over a season more than tripled our pool chemical costs and maintenance efforts; after which, it was still tough to keep the pool clear. Also, the ducklings had a zero survival rate in our rabbit-proof backyard unless we could get them relocated in time... which never left Momma duck very happy. We've eliminated the problem (so far) by replacing the evergreens with deciduous and much less dense semi-evergreen plants. The bit of additional gardening work for the spring clean-up/pruning is tiny compared with the effort/cost of keeping a pool clean with mallards in residence. An inflatable gator kept on the pool also reduces their "house-hunting" visits, though pretty certain they would learn to ignore it if they found the surrounding foliage more appealing. The deciduous bed has been an evolving experiment since 2011, so has actually been more fun from a gardening perspective. Though I do occasionally miss the more formal look and low maintenance of the evergreens, I would never go back to them for a pool bed in a neighborhood with a significant duck population.

How about using it as a chalkboard wall? I like the idea of having the chalkboard framed on the wall so it looks more like a picture than just a whole wall of chaulkboard paint.