Where do I begin? How can I do a backyard on a small budget?

Start small to avoid becoming overwhelmed or over worked. Buy grass seed and lawn fertilizer. Rake and remove large weeds from a section at a time, fertilize, and sprinkle grass seed on that section. Water deeply and frequently until that section is growing new grass. Tackle a section at a time until you have a green lawn. Then consider adding a tree or two for shade, shrubs for interest, gardens, a sitting area. Try to keep things low maintenance.

Start going to Lowes or other big box stores during the week, even Walmart. Look to the clearance shrubs / bushes. They will sell things that will grow in your area. Azaleas in my area grow really well. They are past their blooming time now - I picked up 2 for 3.00 each. Last year I got 2 Knock out Roses for$1.00 each. If you are patient you can landscape this way. They also sell perennial flowers this way.

See if you have a Habitat For Humanity Restore in your region. They sell this and that lumbar, leftover building supplies. Also used furniture. I got some nice white new stair blasters that I was able to incorporate into my garden.

Also see if you have any horticultural societies. They sometimes give away trees. See if you have any friends with Extra bushes sprouting up, or perennials they want to share. I got a nice Holly tree this way. Friends had produced babies. Now it is 5 ft tall.

Find out if there’s a Garden Club, or master gardener in town and innocently ask for advice.

select one area at a time.Either the lawn or planting .

What do you want? Draw up a plan before starting anything. The first thing I would do is plant a few fast-growing shade trees in strategic areas. Make sure to given them room to grow without growing into each other. We put in Chinese maples, they grew from 5 to 10 foot in 3 years.

What a neat space but you first need to figure out what you want regardless of the budget and be realistic. Write it down on paper and then sketch it out on blank paper. Then tackle that project one section at a time.

Let your ideas compliment the next and most of all have fun with it. Don't get overwhelmed because starting with a space like that is so much easier.

Once you've done all this I'd love to hear your ideas and if any kind of gardening is within your vision I'm here to help.

Thanks, tpart of my problem is with getting accu to the heat and dryness of desert gardening, thanks