A garden with a wooden fence in the background, featuring a mulched flower bed. Three small plants are visible, spaced apart. A row of gray bricks separates the garden bed from a grassy lawn. Trees partially shade the area.
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Simple Backyard Landscaping Along the Fence Line

ByLisa
2 Comments

Many people often neglect the exterior of their homes, but the truth is, your exterior space can really extend your square footage and offer valuable living space. I must admit, we definitely neglected much of our back yard for the first several years in our home. We had a lot of different projects going on and just didn’t have time for everything. But this year we set out to finish the backyard 🙂

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The second year in our home we added a paver patio which really helped point us in the right direction, but we never really addressed the landscaping. In case you missed the patio addition this is what our backyard first looked like when we bought the house.

View of a backyard with a covered patio and supporting wooden beams. The yard is mostly dry grass with patches of snow. A small path of stepping stones leads to a large storage shed. Wooden fences and trees border the yard.

This is what it looked like after we added the patio.

A newly paved patio with interlocking stones extends from a house with sliding glass doors. The area is partly shaded by an overhead structure. In the background, there is a grassy lawn, a wooden fence, and a small shed.

The third year we replaced our fence that was in pretty bad disrepair, which you can read about in my new fence post. This is what it looked like when it was done.

Sunny backyard with a neatly trimmed lawn, wooden fence, and surrounding trees. Patio on the right with a black metal chair and a small rock garden lining the edge. Houses are visible in the background.

With all the “framework” in place, it was time to address the landscape. The perimeter of our yard was always a mess. Random over grown bushes with sparse rock and weeds described it to a T. I couldn’t believe I let it go this far! We needed a major clean up.

Along the fence line (especially under the trees), grass didn’t really grow so we knew we needed to add some rock or mulch. When we measured out the space we realized we would need a ridiculous amount of rock which would get pretty expensive so we decided to mulch it. We also wanted to add a border to contain the mulch and any plants we added. Craving something a bit more substantial than the standard plastic/metal garden edging, we opted for a decorative retaining wall block and a finishing top capstone.

Since we needed quite a bit, we had all of the materials delivered. I will be honest, this was not a fast project. Neither of us were particularly motivated and it was a challenging layout since our yard is not flat. We worked on it the weekend after the blocks were delivered and then tabled it for several weeks before diving back in. Then we went out-of-town and then we had plans and before we knew it the summer was almost over! So it was time to get serious.

A sunny backyard with a green lawn, wooden fence, and trees in the background. A lawnmower is positioned next to a small storage shed on the right. Shadows from nearby structures partially cover the grass.

A wooden fence borders a backyard garden bed, which is filled with dry soil and lined with bricks. Sparse branches lie on the soil. Lush green grass is visible in the foreground, and trees provide shade on the left side.

A backyard with a mix of green and yellow grass. Two large trees provide shade, and a wooden fence borders the area. Patio furniture, including a chair and a small table, sits on a paved section in the corner. Bright, sunny day.

By the time we finished the edging, we were about to go on vacation, however, we still needed to add plants and mulch. Fearful if we didn’t mulch before winter it would be a jungle of weeds by spring, we hurried up and ordered the 8 yards of mulch we needed. Nothing lights the fire quite like having a giant pile of mulch sitting in front of your house! I swear the pile is so much bigger when you have wheeled 20 loads to the backyard and it doesn’t even look like you have made a dent in it yet!

A dump truck is unloading a pile of dark mulch onto a paved residential street. Two houses with garages and a few parked cars are visible in the background. Sunlight filters through the trees, illuminating the scene.

We spent an afternoon planting some new grasses, hostas, sedum, and mums, before we finished it off with the fresh black mulch.

A backyard with a wooden fence and two trees along a garden bed bordered by bricks. The grass is neatly cut, and gardening tools including a shovel and watering can are visible. A few small plants are spaced out in the garden bed.

A backyard with a wooden fence and a small garden along its base. Two bags of soil rest on the lush green lawn. Trees and a house are visible in the background. The scene is bathed in sunlight.

A backyard with a wooden fence and a small tree. The ground has a mix of grass and soil. There are potted plants placed intermittently along a low stone garden border under the tree.

Then we laid the weed barrier and piled on the mulch. Even though this area is only along the fence line, it is still quite a bit larger than it looks! This took us about two days, but it looks SO much better!

A garden with a wooden fence in the background, featuring a mulched flower bed. Three small plants are visible, spaced apart. A row of gray bricks separates the garden bed from a grassy lawn. Trees partially shade the area.

A backyard with a grassy lawn, a wooden fence, and a small shed on the right. A house with a brick chimney is partially visible on the left. Trees offer shade, casting shadows on the grass.

Small garden shed with gray double doors and a window, set on a neatly manicured lawn. It's surrounded by a wooden fence, with trees and shrubs in the background. Patio stones and potted plants decorate the space around the shed.

Because of the slope to the yard, we stepped the wall blocks in areas where the grade of the yard changes since leveling the entire yard was definitely not an option. 

A small white shed is nestled under a leafy tree in a backyard. It sits alongside a wooden fence, bordered by a raised garden bed with dark soil. The yard has well-maintained green grass and a gently sloping landscape.

A wooden fence borders a garden with a small flower bed containing orange, yellow, and red flowers. The yard has lush green grass and trees in the background, with sunlight filtering through.

A backyard scene with a grassy area bordered by a low stone wall. A curved, mulched flower bed with a few plants and a mature tree sits in front of a wooden privacy fence under a clear sky.

Vast improvement from before, don’t you think? We went from a yard with zero landscaping plan to one that actually looks intentional. 

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Collage of a garden featuring a white shed with gray doors, a wooden privacy fence, and freshly landscaped flower beds with mulch and plants. The text reads, "The Impact Of Fresh Landscaping" with a website link below.

This post, Simple Backyard Landscaping Along the Fence Line, appeared first on Garrison Street Design Studio.

2 Comments

    1. We leveled out the small area under each block, but definitely not the whole yard! Our yard has a slope to it, so we “stepped” the blocks in areas that were sloping. Hope that helps 😉

      Reply

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