You may have a conflict. You want a garden, your family wants a play ground.

Do you need a fence? It appears that your next door neighbors on the 3 sides of your yard have provided you with one by fencing their yards in. If there are gaps you need to fill, I think it would look best if you use the same kind of fencing as your neighbors otherwise you’ll create a disjointed look & also an unattractive focal point where the different fences join.

Also, in order for anyone to make planting suggestions you need to share your location. A larger picture of entire yard would be helpful & include directional orientation. Even if your back yard faces south or west towards the sun, spaces next to the fence on those sides will be shaded by fence.....or large trees & structures on the other side of the fence inside other yards.

My first priority would be to take down the chain link fence; the exterior item most likely to lower property values. I would remove the awning and wrought iron supports, let hubs bust out all the paving and prep the back 2/3 of the yard for the games, toys and play areas. You get the front 1/3 nearest the house where you can install grass or raised planting beds if you like to garden. Instead of the awning, install a pergola where you can grow climbing blooming vines to add green and blooms. Here's one with plenty of green around, even if not underfoot.

Tangley @ · More Info

My husband says we don’t really need a fence maybe just on the side where’s there’s no privacy. I just hate all different types of fences . Right next to the white fence my other neighbor had a beige fence .
I will take a better pic of the yard . Also we get a lot of mosquitoes in the summer so I want to avoid any vines growing .thank you for all your suggestions please keep them coming lol .

I also don’t think we’ll be a fence towards the back

Just so you know.....here is no relationship between vines (or other greenery) and mosquitoes. One has nothing to do with the other :-)

Here are some more pics

Standing water would be more likely to house mosquitos. Be sure you dump out the toys where it might accumulate.

And that pool! That’s a really big mosquito magnet!

The pool is temporary is already down lol

KW I’m aware that the mosquitoes are not attracted to the trees, bushes, vines etc but from my research I’ve read all these things retain water so the mosquitoes like to hide anywhere there is water . So even on leaves they’ll hang around . For example I wanted to buy arborvitae for the back wall of my yard but my brother in law experience with them he found he has more mosquitoes now . And he only has a a few . I didn’t cancel the idea of buying them officially.
I’m open to more suggestions with privacy trees and your experiences

In order to reproduce and the eggs hatch into larvae and the larvae mature, you need standing water. Water on foliage is not sufficient for these stages in their lifecycle and if your foliage remains consistently dripping wet for the two weeks or so (sometimes longer) that it takes to develop into flying, biting adults, then you have other problems to address.

btw, adults do not care about water.....except to lay their eggs. Somewhere relatively close by there is a source of standing water....an old container, kids' toys, a birdbath, pond or even a puddle that doesn't drain routinely. But you can't blame the plants - they are not the source of the problem.

And, on the other hand, with a mix of plantings for cover & protection, things like birds, toads, frogs etc may find their way into your yard and guess what all these things like to eat - you got it - bugs!

Ok thanks gardengal .

Claribel, circling back to your original request, renovating your yard, I’m sure that more info from you will generate good suggestions for you. Can you take a picture of your entire back yard from that window over your patio cover? It’s hard to visualize the whole of it from the pieces in pics. Also need to know where you live to suggest plantings. Is it warm year round or do you have real seasons? We know you’re talking about getting rid of grass ( good for low maintenance & water conservation) and want to add more hardscape as in pavers but also want smooth surface for B Ball hoop & playing. Dimensions of the yard and the direction / orientation for sun & shade will help too for greenery suggestions.

Yes KW that a good idea I’ll take another in the day . We live in Brooklyn New York so we have all types of weather here lol . I can definitely get some dimensions and thank you for your help 😃