From: "Tony"

This summer my wife and I are planning a back yard renovation project.
We've been in our home about 3 years, and we've decided we need to put in a
lawn sprinkler system. In light of that, we want to get our landscape plan
fairly established.

Our front yard is pretty much in place, but the back yard is a big project.
Essentially what we want to do is convert about a third of our back yard
into a large garden area for ornamental plants.

We're think that this summer we'd have the sprinkler put in to accomodate
this, we'd put in metal edging to define the bed line, and then we'd mulch
the area heavily. Then after that we'd start incorporating plants
bit-by-bit.

We want to come up with a good plan so we don't wind up with something that
doesn't look right when we're done. Even at this early stage we're
concerned about making a big mistake.

I've put up a web page with a few (small) digital photos and a diagram of
what we're planning. If people would take a look and either post comments
here or email me, I'd be grateful.

My page is up at http://www.pittarese.com/backyard.htm

If you plan on having lawn - figure spray heads since your yard isn't that
large. As for the gardens, I'd consider a few zone-valve controlled water
spigots placed inconspiciously and stratigically in the beds, and connect
soaker hoses to them.

After a couple of years establishing, you shouldn't need to water the garden(s)
much so there's no sense in installing an elaborate system.

If in the future you decide to revamp your plantings (dividing grass and
hibiscus, adding / giving away plants) you can always change the layout of a
soaker hose to suit.