Hi! We have a single story Spanish colonial in the foothills of LA county (So Cal).
It has a large (for the area) backyard.
Originally the plan was to put in a pool, when we bought it two years ago. However the city has stopped issuing pool permits due to water shortage, AND we decided this is not our forever home and we plan to sell in the next year so we don’t want to install anything that causes major construction in our backyard for the next year that we are here.
During 2020 quarantine, this whole space was a GIANT performing vegetable garden.
In 2021, we cut the garden in half and installed an above-ground-pool in the other half.
After the summer we decided we no longer wanted to take care of an above ground pool so we gave it away. Hence the giant dirt circle surrounded by beautiful grass.
What should we do with this grass/dirt circle area? We don’t want to fill it in with grass because we already have a huge front yard of grass. I thought about a play structure for the kids, but it’s going to be summer soon and that stuff heats up too hot to play on. Would have been great for winter though! And again- plans to move.
Thought about a sandbox, but the kids are currently using it as a dirt box anyway, complete with monster trucks and ramps.
Curious what others would do with this space. I’d like it to be prettier, for the time we are here and also for when we have photos taken to sell the house.
There is a great concrete patio area we installed next to all this with a pergola patio cover on top.
I would consider changing out the garden fence to something more modern and elegant looking, or changing the shape of the garden to complement the grass area.
Things I don’t want to do:
-fill it in with grass
-plant fruit trees
-pour more concrete
-plant privacy hedge (the neighbor’s van is not permanent and the house behind us has trees already growing just aren’t super high yet.

Excuse the clutter, this is after a day of playing outside.