Oh, look -- Another forum for me to learn from!
I have a very shady backyard, but haven't really done anything with it until this year. It primarily belongs to the dogs, but the original owners had a raised section at the back. I put up a cheap border fence to keep the dogs away from the fence back there.
Original back yard:
This year, I realized the orignal landscape timbers were pretty much rotted through, so when I replaced them, I expanded it somewhat. It's about 40ft long, and the end closest to us in the picture is 11ft out from the fenceline. The lattice is to keep the dogs from going in there.
Am currently filling it with brush/debris, a la Dave's hugelkultur beds, and will eventually have enough in there to be able to plant in it. The original section had daffodils and vinca (minor, I hope). I've dug out all the daffs (yeah, it's not the right time, but oh well) and am going to try and smother the vinca under heavy clear plastic over the next several months.
Last month's Daylily society meeting had a guest speaker talking about shade gardens, and I'm excited about the possibilities for it. Eventually those giant pines will be cut -- not completely taken out, though. I'm going to leave them about 10-12 feet tall I think, and make an arbor out of them.
