Take a full tour of my backyard garden layout—from raised beds to tucked-away corners—and see how I’ve used every part of the yard to grow more.
00:00 – Intro
00:39 – Main garden layout + raised beds
02:38 – Chicken Coop + In-ground areas
05:29 – More Raised Beds and Arch Walkway Trellises
07:44 – Roses and Other Crops
08:16 – GreenStalks and elevated bed
09:25 – Shady side yard, Compost + rain barrel zone
13:42 – Final thoughts and encouragement
14:50 – How big is my garden?
Take a full tour of my backyard garden layout—from the raised beds and side yard to family spaces, vertical planters, and even the compost area. In this video, I’m walking you through the full design of my garden and backyard space, sharing how I’ve planned each area to make the most of the sunlight, seasons, and layout.
Whether you’re planning a new garden or reworking your current space, I hope this gives you ideas for raised bed garden design, backyard layout inspiration, and how to use every corner of your yard to grow food, herbs, fruit trees, and flowers.
RELATED POSTS: https://growinginthegarden.com/raised-bed-garden-design-backyard-layout-ideas-that-work/
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Today, I’d like to give you a tour of my backyard garden. Not just the beds, but the whole space, so you can get an idea how things are laid out. I recently had some people here for a painting in the garden event. It was so fun. But the comment I kept hearing was, “It’s different in person than it is on camera. It’s really nice to see how everything’s laid out, and it makes me feel like I could do this, too.” And that’s what I want to show you today, that you don’t need a huge yard to grow fruit, vegetables, and flowers. You can absolutely do this in your space. Okay, come on back. Let’s walk through the garden section by section, and I’ll show you how I use each space and how the sun moves through the space. So, these are the main garden beds that you normally see, and a lot of this area gets great sunlight. There’s a lot of sun that comes through here. This area over here gets afternoon shade naturally in the summer, which is great. I put up shade cloth over here to give it some afternoon shade as well. When we expanded into this part of the yard, I added three beds. I replaced them last year with metal beds, but these were the three initial areas that I gardened in. This used to be a sandbox and then I slowly took over the rest of the sandbox by adding more beds. So, I added these other beds in here. And this is a great area. It gets great morning sun and a lot of afternoon shade naturally. Really prime area to garden in during the summer months. This is a north facing wall, so I’m always surprised how little sun this area gets in the winter. I can come out in the middle of the day and parts of this are still shaded. So crops in this area in the winter grow a lot more slowly. Vines like honeysuckle and star jasmine are really happy along this north facing wall. This grouping of flowers here grow a lot more slowly than the flowers in the other beds. These sweet peas are just starting to bloom where the other ones have been blooming for quite a while and they’re finishing up. This area is just getting going and they will bloom a lot longer into spring because of all the shade they receive. This is also the coldest spot in my yard, which makes it perfect for my peach tree so we can get enough chill hours and have delicious fruit. But that also means it’s a bad place for tomatoes. All the tomatoes I had planted in here froze last winter when we had just a couple of frost events because the cold really settles into this area. You can probably hear the chickens. I’ve loved having them in the garden. It makes it feel so much more alive. So, the coupe right here, it gets some afternoon shade from this peach tree. And also, when I put up the shade cloth in this area, that helps to shade the chickens a little bit. They’re kind of tucked back in here. Got their little coupe and then their run. Recently added a bunch more chickens, so we’re up to 10. Hoping we get up to 10 eggs a day because I’ve got a teenage son who eats a lot of eggs, so I don’t want to buy him at the grocery store. I have a few passion fruit vines tucked in against that wall. It does get some late afternoon sun, so they have to be able to handle some sun. This nicotana, you can see here, it’s totally taken over. I had no idea how big these plants get. They’re huge. They’re beautiful. They smell amazing, especially at night. Can’t believe it. But there’s actually a few, I think two dwarf fruit trees under here that are completely being, you know, swallowed up by this nicotana. There’s a Mexican orchid vine back behind there as well. For right now, they’re very happy against this western wall. They got plenty of sunlight this winter. Continuing along this western wall, so it gets morning shade and afternoon sun. This area can definitely heat up. So, I’ve got grape vines growing. Here are the sweet peas that have been blooming for a long time, starting to finish up, not keeping up with the harvesting here, and other heat loving vines that grow well with all of that sunlight. I like having the opportunity for inground areas. They’re different than our raised beds, so it gives me a chance to kind of see how the soil develops. Added a lot of wood chips through the years to these areas. It’s built up the soil. I have a drip line that goes through here that’ll water some of the annuals and then some individual drip lines to some of the trees. I have vines planted against these walls and then dwarf or ultra dwarf fruit trees growing in these beds. So, if they’re not dwarf naturally, I’m definitely going to keep them pruned because I still want to keep them a manageable size, not have them take over. But, I want to have fruit trees growing along here that I’m able to harvest fruit from. This is our Barbados cherry. And then we’ve got a guava grape there that’s waking up. Nice to see that. And goji berries here. See guava. Um more grapes here. This is a plum just getting going. So this is again a dwarf plum right here. Got a fig there. And then an apple and a guava that are swallowed up. Can’t really see those right now, but lots of small fruit trees growing along here. After taking over the sandbox, I took over the rest of this part of the yard. We took out all of the grass and added these beds. I’ve loved this part of the garden. The arch trelluses are a favorite. I’ve loved growing up and over them, but it definitely needs afternoon shade. It doesn’t get it naturally. So, we installed these poles. There’s four around the garden. That gives me some relief from the afternoon sun here in this area. And then I usually plant some sunflowers, branching sunflowers along this side to also give some relief from that western sun as that sun goes down over here. That blocks some of that sunlight. And then we’ve got the shade up above here. When I talk about directions like northern, western, I’m talking about the exposure that that area receives. For example, this north facing wall is on the south side of my property and this western exposure wall is on the east side of my property. You can see the sun rising up here in the east. So, when you’re mapping out your own garden, it’s crucial to pay attention to those exposures. A western exposure that gets afternoon sun is a lot different than a northern exposure that gets minimal sun. That exposure helps determine what you plant and what will grow well in those areas. So, no matter how much space I have, I always seem to run out of room. So, I love adding grow bags if I need them throughout the yard. But, it’s also helpful for me to keep gardening in containers, keep gardening in grow bags because it is more challenging. I want to know how it works and the challenges that people are facing when they’re gardening in a little bit different conditions, not the ideal raised bed. I’ve loved gardening in these beds. It’s fun to think back to all of the things that have grown up these trelluses through the years. It felt like hundreds of lofah hanging through these. But these trelluses have been such a fun addition to the garden. I love walking through them, having different things grow up them, and planning what I’m going to have this season. Growing up these trelluses, roses have been such a fun addition to the garden. These are in their second year. This is a perfect spot for roses. They get that nice morning sun, then some afternoon shade. They’re very happy and I’m happy to see all of the blooms. They’re so pretty this year. I’ll show you a couple things I have growing back in here. Got lots of warm season crops hopefully ready to climb up and take over these trelluses. Asparagus that needs picked. Actually need to get get on that through here. Blackberries. And um although this is a big space and I have a lot of room and I’ve tried to maximize the room by adding lots of beds and things, not everyone has a big garden. So, I’m experimenting with some small space gardening ideas for people who garden on patios or balconies. What can work here in the heat and what are some of the best ways to do that? So, I’ve recently added an elevated gardening bed, which is a good option for a lot of people if they don’t want to bend over or if they have limited space. So, I’m practicing with this. I’m giving this good exposure. It has morning sunlight, afternoon shade. Going to see how it does. Same thing with these green stock gardens. Small footprint for a lot of plants. These can be a really good option if you just have a small growing area, if you just get a little bit of sunlight because you can rotate it around to maximize the sunlight that you get. So, I’m experimenting with some of these things. Even though I have a large garden and can grow lots of things, it’s always nice to see how things grow in these small spaces and help people maximize the space that they do have. So, now you’ve seen my main garden, but that isn’t where I started gardening. I have five kids who used most of this yard as they were growing up. So, when I wanted to garden, I got the sideyard. Let me show you how it started. So, kind of tucked back in here is my first garden area. The initial beds are gone. Started those back in 2008. They were back here. Started with squarefoot gardening. Went to Home Depot, cut the wood, and it was very fun. Like, it was a great great garden. Um, and eventually, obviously kept expanding and expanding. Because of the location, this sideyard garden gets less sunlight. It really is shaded by the house next to me, by my house. So, we’re only getting, you know, a few hours depending on the time of year of sun. It’s enough for things to grow, but things definitely grow more slowly over here. Because this area doesn’t have ideal sunlight for growing, it’s a perfect spot for things like my workstation where I do a lot of potting up, putting things together. You can see the labels here are ready for my son to spray paint over so I can reuse them. That’s one of his Saturday jobs. We’ve got my rain tank here, which is full. Look at that. That means it’s full. Yay. I’m kind of hoarding it a little bit. I need to start using it. There’s a pump that connects it to the sprinkler system, but I love seeing it full, so I’ll start using it. Um, also have compost in here. Extra leaves that didn’t fit in the compost or bagged up. These are all full, so I need to get on it. I’m a little nervous to open this. I peeked open yesterday and there was a rat in there. So, we’re not going to open the compost bins today. I’ll uh take care of that later. So, things are definitely heating up. The ntoriums are, you know, not loving life quite as much, but the birds are loving my strawberry patch because there this area doesn’t get as much sunlight. I don’t come over here as much and it doesn’t get as much attention and the birds have really just made a mess of this strawberry patch. It’s really sad to see. I’ve not given it the attention that it deserves. But I’ve got other things growing, warm season crops that I’ve planted all through here. This is a great area for herbs as well. It doesn’t get as much sunlight. So, this is my kind of perpetual herb garden where herbs will grow really well. And this other garden we planted in a recent video, doing pretty good. I’ve got one squash here that looks great. Another squash planted the exact same time. It doesn’t look great. So, you never know. So surprised. I’m looking at this thinking what’s going on. So another reason sometimes to plant more than one because I’m not sure. Oh, actually I think I may have figured a little bit of it out. This squash plant is right next to the inbed vermma composting bin. So that might have something to do with why it’s growing so well. Mystery may have been solved on that one. So we’ve got an eastern facing wall, which is a great place. It gets morning sunlight, but unfortunately because the house is there, it also gets a lot of shade. So, we’re not getting as much sunlight as would be ideal, but I found things that grow here. This is a pink trumpet vine that growing pretty well. You definitely have to keep an eye on some of these vines. Durant erecta that I just cut back. This kind of fills in. And it’s really pretty purple flowers and it’s it’s coming back right through here and it’s very happy here. Lemongrass. Just cut this back too. And then a durant erecta right here. And then another pink trumpet vine. So this area it gets nice and full. I love seeing all the greenery out my kitchen window. Looking out here and just enjoying seeing the wildlife and really enjoying having this kind of all green and filled in. I’ve experimented with growing more edible um annuals and things here, but they just haven’t grown as well. So, I’ve settled into having some perennials here that come back, add greenery, and are really a lowmaintenance good option for this area of the yard. So, even within this one yard here in Mesa, there’s lots of different challenges and different things I’ve had to kind of figure out. I’ve killed a lot of plants along the way to figure out what grows well where and how to maximize each location and make the most of it and create that microclimate where things are going to grow well and make it easier on me so that I can have a beautiful garden with as little work as possible. So once I was able to get more space and move over here into this larger area, I was shocked how quickly things grew. That extra sunlight made a huge difference to my garden. So, as you’re gardening, your area might have different challenges. Don’t get discouraged, but learn. Figure out what works best in your space and make the most of your advantages and try to mitigate the challenges. Figure out what grows well. Try different things. You’re going to kill a lot of plants along the way, but as you do that, you’re going to grow and get more experience. And by doing it, not just learning about it and talking about it, you will learn more than you ever could. So, how big is my garden? Well, our lot is between a third and half an acre. And on that, you can see we’re a family with a house with basketball, a pool, you know, there’s other things going, but my garden area is about 40 by 50, this area in here. And my sideyard garden is about nine feet by about 36 feet. So that gives me quite a bit of square footage to work with. There’s also quite a bit in the front yard and that’s where I grow a lot of my fruit trees. I’d love to show you that sometime. But whether you have more space than I do or less, it’s all about finding ways to maximize your space and figuring out what grows well in your area. As you do that, you’ll have a successful garden. Thank you so much for joining me on this [Music] tour. Um, okay. So, really, it will be different what you plant. Thank you. I was like the camera. Do you want to walk under the trelluses? Uh, I know I didn’t finish it, though. But, but weather. What did we say? All right.
48 Comments
You asked to see how the entire backyard is laid out, and here it is! From the raised beds to the shaded side yard, I’m sharing how I’ve designed each area to work with the sun and seasons. Let me know what part surprised you—or what you’d like a deeper look at in a future video. Thanks for coming along on the tour!
Beautiful garden! Hope to have as big or bigger one soon.
Beautiful garden! Thats a lot of hard work!
What state are you in?
Angela you have a nice backyard 😍 The garden is nice too.
❤
Thank you so much for helping me. I appreciate your help!
My garden is just the side yard but I love it just like you started out! Can you recommend what to replace the rock with? Any specific wood chips you like best?
What kind of pump do you use for your rain water tank? I'd like to connect mine to our drips!
Where do u get all those arched trellis'?
Thank you! This is one of your best videos yet!! I love your informative videos, but this one was really realistic and amazing! My husband and I have the same amount of usable space that you have and have been working on it for about three years. We are not quite where you are in accomplishments, but slowly, we will achieve our version of your amazing garden. Thank you for your time and hard work in teaching us and others your craft! We are zone 9 las vegas NV.
Thank you for the tour. It’s very inspiring. Especially knowing you started in your side yard. I’m in a tiny space and this gives me hope!
I loved this garden tour. 🙂
Hello.I hope you find time to respond. I really admirehow you maintain your garden despite extreme temp. I live in Imperial CA with zone 10a, we have extremely hot summer with continues 110 degree and its dry. But our winter is nice. I wonder if your planting guide book will apply to our area. All farmers here grow lots of greens during fall and winter. I was hoping I can grow vegies during spring and summer as well. And do you have a recomended soil mix ratio for raised beds? I have okra now in raised bed and in pots. The one in pots are doing way better. I am wondering if it is the soil that make the one in raised bed not doing well. Thank you in advance.
Such an amazing garden!
Did you plant the nicotiana straight into the ground? Is it a perennial? Also do you keep your animals away from this one?
WOW . . . beautiful and inspiring! Moved here from the PNW where I could grow anything. I have been strugging with figuring out what I can grow here. I don't have much shade in the areas where I can plant. I will have to stick with winter veggie growing. Your calendar has been very helpful. Thank you for the tour.
One question: what is your water bill like, lol?
Great video, thank you! Please tell us about your arched trellises? Where are they from? Love them!
You inspired me five years ago as I began filling my raised beds five years ago when we moved to AZ. I refer to your planting and harvesting guides on the regular. Thank you for posting all your content, creating your guide for the low desert. Gardening has helped me through my husbands cancer diagnosis and recent passing. You are the internet “friend” I refer everyone to who asks about my garden. Thanks so much Angela…. I clearly have more yard to utilize .
One thing I would love to see is a guide about what plants do well on what wall of a yard and why. Like a printable I can put in my binder with all your other printables! lol
I love that you're working on small space ideas… our yard is very small and mostly taken up by a pool. I have a very small area for raised beds. I think we can fit two more of the size we currently have (two right now).
Um, I think I'd be wary to open the bin after seeing a rat too!
Do you have a Gardenia? Thought I may have seen one in the video.
Is that a ladybug house to the left of your growing in the garden sign in your side yard? Does it work well?
I love your videos. I've learned so much. My husband and I just put a 7×12 greenhouse in our backyard. I'm in the yard constantly.
I began to plant a medicinal herb garden. I'm hooked on gardening!
My yard is 3/4 of an acre.
Beautiful garden, thank you for sharing it.
I didn't know nicotina (sp?) grew so well in the desert, would love a video on that, I've never heard of it
where did you get your workstation tables you use for planting?
Wow. What is your growing zone?
Thanks for doing this video! I have often wondered how much space you actually have for gardening. I love your videos and all the wisdom you impart. I don't have much space at all but your videos have helped a lot. It was quite a challenge for me to make the adjustment from a 4 acre farm in Vermont, where I operated a CSA and also specialized in heirloom tomatoes for farmers markets and local restaurants, to a lot in a mobile home park in Tempe!
New subscriber. So glad I happened to find your site. You have a beautiful garden 🪴 filled with various plants, trees, vegetables 🥗. Live in Texas (9b) so quite similar to your growing area. Thanks for sharing!
I’m thankful for your channel. Being in the Arizona Valley, I need your channel and I follow another one in Mesa as well. Those guys that have a million followers in other parts of the country are great but they don’t always know Arizona.
I have started my own little channel and I learn a lot and I’m glad that you’re doing what you’re doing.
I started Nicotiana from seed this year and its barely growing, I only hope I get half the plant you have!
Can you post a video of how you actually put up the shade structure and cloth – take it down – is it daily – do you leave it up – what temp is it when you decide to put it up
Would love to see the front yard! <3
I found a squash bug in my squash today… what do I do?
Great Garden
Angela,my first impression of your video was, “wait, she has a half- basketball court in her back yard AND turf??” Jealousy. Your yard is beautiful. I love the way you have your garden laid out & the yard sectioned off.
Even though it is not the small, backyard garden I imagined from your videos, I will keep watching & looking to you for advice because you are an amazing gardener!
THANK YOU for your videos
I love how this is laid out! How do you keep the weeds out? The weeds are overtaking the places between gardens and I can’t keep up! 🥴
I live in Southeastern Tucson AZ. I live in a Mobile home community, a good sized lot. Southern and Northern yards….i have a south facing covered patio with a cattle panel enclosed structure (catio)to protect my pets. I have passion vines growing with three flowering bushes. Trees along each front corner. Ive just found this channel… I'm thrilled!!
Love your garden!! Where is your grape trellis from, shown at 5:00 ?
This was so lovely and relaxing to watch❤
What is the name of the bush with the white flowers that smell so nice in the evening??
Thank you for the lovely tour of your backyard. How do you keep the cats from creeping into your garden?
I’m really interested in dwarf fruiting trees to add to my garden. I’m hoping by keeping them trimmed they wouldn’t take over. I love the learning process of gardening.
Thank you Angela!
You have a beautiful and fun yard. I really appreciate your explanations of directions as it has helped me tremendously take a look at what I have and the many options here in my yard. You have been the most help than any other gals I follow. I live in Camp Verde, so I know the challenges of AZ gardening. A little different than yours as I am north of you. Again Thank you, you are much appreciated!
Where in Mesa can I buy worms for my garden😊
Great tour, love your gardens – so organized, tidy & welcoming ❤🎉