Let's talk...Yards?

[Samwise]

I'm in the desert desert. Last February the sky got grey and up on the foothills it was almost misty. I have not seen rain in over a year, and when I last did, I was in a different city.

Scrub-type plants would still be an option if you were willing to water them every now and then (they'd need some attention, but nothing like the obscene amount of water you'd need to keep a lawn alive).  But I think I'd go with cacti and rocks if I had absolutely zero natural moisture to work with.  I might also go all the way in the other direction and create an oasis in the form of a fountain or water garden.

[Grimwell]

I'm leaning more toward scorched earth. Until I can afford a full back yard renovation. Then I can get cement and decorative plants that drink annually from a syringe. 

[Tale]

Nice yard, wish I had one. I grew up with several, now I live in an apartment because Sydney houses are stupidly expensive.

[apocrypha]

Here's our garden. It's only a small one, British gardens tend to be like that unless you're rich, lucky or both  

We made a nice patio which is an awesome sun trap in the morning:

And the back half, with herb planter and veg cage:

Most of the work this year has been done by my girlfriend, and it's beautiful at the moment. The surrounding area has a lot of trees and we're not far from a small park so it's full of birds and other assorted wildlife. We've had bats in the past (although no sign of them this year) and have a couple of toads this year, plus we have a constant supply of fresh herbs and a few crops a year of spinach, broad beans, fennel, strawberries (not done well this year), potatoes (grown in tubs on the patio) and hopefully rhubarb and horseradish over the coming years  

It's really nice to have a little space that breaks up the view of the backs of the houses surrounding it - the birch & eucalyptus tree really help with that and bring birds in too. It'd be awesome to have a larger area for growing veg but anywhere with a bigger garden is impossible for us for the foreseeable future and we don't want to give up any more of the beds or patio to growing space. We're getting better at getting more out of the small space we do have :)

[Tale]

I like it, apocrypha.

[Sky]

herb planter and veg cage:

Yoink! I've been looking for an attractive way to fence in my garden, that's awesome! I'll still have to start out with metal posts and cheap fencing, but now I've got something to shoot for.

[SnakeCharmer]

That's really nice looking, and good use of space.