Beginner Gardening: Front yard / corner lot needs help for British pocket garden, 1 by Twincol

Twincol wrote:
FINALLY!!! Wahoo!! Four years coming. The summer following treatment for breast cancer 4 1/2+ years ago I began preparing the front yard of my home of 30+ years by killing the bermuda grass. My neighbors have had to live with the bare or dry weed-filled landscape since then. I have simply not had the physical energy to engage in the physical labor needed to do the work. And while I am still "puny" relative to my pre-treatment state, I will, I will, I will start the layout and early plantings this week. I must do it a bit at a time, but at least I'll be doing the work.

Bear with me here . . . I have wanted to lay out an urban British pocket garden since my trip to England, specifically The Cotswolds (Cirencester), in the fall of 2003 with my then-85YO mother. Her father, my GF, was born and raised there and I just fell in love with England. The town harkens to Roman times and is built largely of stone, something I am unable to replicate. But I've some ideas I'd like to share and ask my gardening brothers and sisters to help me with the planning.

So I'll start by posting the few images I have of the area, describing the layout briefly, and then tell you of my overall plan.

I hope you're game.

So . . . here's the first image, facing northwest corner, concrete block fence to the north (surrounding the patio I nearly single-handedly designed and built in 2000), white single story 1940's stucco house with two 40++YO Fruitless Mulberries standing guard against the summer heat. They're going NOWHERE! That's non-negotiable, folks!

You'll note that I've laid out stakes and yellow tape which hopefully protects my liability insurance against injuries in the recently-dug (little Bobcat tractor with 10-inch-diameter drill bits was just awesome to watch work) holes for fence posts. This ground is solid hardpan (clay) across the 70X40 foot yard. So I had Aardvark Bobcat drill holes for both the stakes and any major plants I will put out. So see the fence move from the concrete block fence, heading south and then due-east across the entire front of the yard.

Do you see the clay pavers stacked against the fence?