newbie needs advice. no grass, all sand & too many leaves

Hi all !!
Im desperate for advice on how to landscape a backyard in south central florida.
This yard space has a HUGE very ugly oak, and constantly drops leaves year round.
The yard therefore gets very little sun. No grass can grow. Its all sand, weeds, vines, suculents, palms, ferns (alot) , and other various strange things. Its fairly level n flat.
Im new here, this is a new home.
My question is how or what to landscape with. The falling leaves make it almost impossible to have anything as i have to rake them constantly. Gravel wont work. Mulch wont work. Brick? Pavers?
Another problem is i have a terrier that wont stop digging.
I would like some variety and different things to look at. Not just one huge paved space. Thinking of a raised wood patio. Maybe a raised veggie garden.
How do i put a stop to the massive weeds that have taken over? With root systems so imbedded and long they are like tree roots.
Its very moist and shady back there - we get a fair amt of rain.
The yard is fenced for my 2 dogs.

Mainly want to know how to landscape in sand, that receives little to no sun, and tons of leaves.
Thank you for the advice!

This message was edited Jan 1, 2014 12:33 PM

Forgot to mention... cutting the tree down isnt an option. It provides much needed heat relief in summer in terms of shade.... plus my neighbors oak leaves blow in too. Its an old established neighborhood .

I see a couple of solutions, and combining them in the right ratio is probably going to be the answer.

Part A: Making some of the area easier to clean, non-digging, and add living space:
1) Raised deck: Wood, or synthetic materials.
a) Oak tannins can stain it. Easy to use a blower or broom to remove leaves, though.
b) Animals try to live under it. Out here it is snakes, skunks and racoons. Your dogs might keep them away, though.
c) Installation is fairly easy: Dig holes for piers, construction/carpenty. Make sure it is well anchored so a hurricane cannot lift it out of the ground.
d) Pretty much restricted to straight lines. Curves are not impossibe, but if you are not a skilled carpenter, then hire one.
e) To me, it is a constant irritant to have to step up, step down... just to move around the garden.

2) Other solid surface (pavers, concrete...)
a) Same as above.
b) Makes a nice patio and walkway. Easy transition to the rest of the garden.
c) Installation is a bit of work. Gotta dig out enough soil so the pavers or concrete are not much higher than the surrounding soil. An inch or so, keeps it cleaner, drains faster.
d) Curved outline is easy.

3) Semi-solid surface- compacted gravel, loose gravel, other
a) Compacted material (quarter by dust, or similar) sets up almost as hard as concrete, though MAYBE some determined dogs could get through it.
b) Loose material is not a good idea.

Part B: Keeping some planting areas:
1) Raised planter boxes (lumber, gravity block, brick, concrete block, or other construction material as walls)
a) Gives a definite marker for the dogs. "Stay out of here". You could add fencing to the boxes if they still jump up in there.
b) Raised beds can be filled with your choice of soil mix: for example a blend of sand and oak compost. Great for ferns, azaleas, hostas, camellias and many other shede plants.
c) Will take some effort to build. Make sure you incorporate irrigation.
d) Pretty much restricted to straight lines if you use wood, but gravity block walls can be curved, if the area is large enough (they don't do tight turns)

2) More natural looking raised planters:
a) Rock walls look less formal, can be made in different ways depending on what rock you use.
b) Natural wood or rustic wood poles, rail road ties or similar material is lighter than rock, but you are back to straight lines.

3) Smaller pots, moveable sized.
a) You can change the arrangement and locations seasonally.
b) Best way to keep dogs out. Some dogs will still make a point of destroying them, but there are ways...
c) Best way to put improved soil in there to grow the best plants.
d) Definitely need irrigation. Even with frequent rains containers may dry out too fast. Need to be able to water them often during a dry spell.
e) If you stick to containers small enough to move around the plants will not be very large.

4) Defining some areas at ground level:
a) You can outline the areas with header board, rocks, bricks or anything you want. Curving or straight lines.
b) Not a defined space to keep the dogs out. Probably have to fence it.
c) MUCH easier than building something! You can make mounds out of the soil removed for the patio, and incorporate soil conditioner as you do it.

Part C: Vegetables:
a) Most vegetables thrive in full sun or something close to it.
b) In that shaded location there is not a lot of hope for most vegetables. Maybe some lettuce or something.
c) Most vegetables can be grown in raised boxes. Depends on the size of the boxes, of course.

Part D: Dogs:
1) Train them not to dig in the areas you don't want them in.
a) Give them their own space to dig. Take them to their space. Have fun with them digging there. Hide treats and toys for them in their space. Praise them for digging in their space.
b) Whenever they try to dig anywhere else redirect them to the digging area.
c) When you do fresh work in areas you do not want them digging you may have to put temporary fencing around it. Fresh digging smells so attractive that even when they are well trained not to dig in your territory, they might.

Oak leaves:
a) Make great compost and mulch. Whatever you remove from the deck or patio put into a compost pile and turn it into good soil ammendment. Blow or rake the remainder into the planter areas.
b) Select plants that will grow tall enough that they will grow through the oak leaves and thrive with the rain of leaves. Generally all shade plants came from a forest floor, so are OK with this.

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How to:
1) Lay out a garden hose in the shapes you want. Patio, planters... long, sweeping curves, straight lines, combinations.... Shapes that interconnect: such as a raised planter at the edge of the patio. Put smooth lumber or stone work on it, make it 18-22" high and it is additional seating around the patio.
2) Set out whatever garden furniture you will use there. Move it around. Eat a meal out there. If your chair falls off the edge of the patio you may have to make the patio larger, or buy smaller furniture.
3) Look at the layout from the house, and from all angles around the garden. Is it a soothing, connected whole? Does it look well layed out? Change some dimensions, some shapes.
4) Look in some DIY books about garden layout. Landscape design. See what hints there are about size ratios, shapes and materials.

Hi Lynn, IF I were you I would go along with everything Dianna has said, the planning she mentioned can all be laid out BUT each section can be done gradually when funds become available or when time allows, weather conditions or even help being available.

Dianna has covered everything any novice gardener could possibly require to start off your project, she even mentioned going to look, buy or borrow from library that covers Landscape, deck constructions to making raised bed that blend in with the decking, maybe even using up some cut-off wood or other material.

Everything she mentioned is in plane English, great for new gardeners as often technical stuff is very off putting, I would say all you need do now is, buy yourself a sketch pad, take several photo's of your yard from different windows, doors, looking back towards the house, any tree's, structured=s that need to be saved like drains, overhead cables, you need to plant lighting, watering, and shapes of planters, pathways need either paving or cement as loose ground cover is sometimes dangerous to dogs or cause problems from allergies on the skin, my own Chow dogs, 3 off, used to have terrible problems with wood chips being stuck between their foot pads and never noticed till there was a bad problem and the dogs were limping so we removed the wood bark, small gravel causes the same problems .
When I was visiting Florida I wandered into the big book store where you could get a coffee and read a book, I fetched home many soft covered books for deck construction where you get full instructions, hint's and tips of material and treatment off and where to start, stairs or play sand pits, anything is possible.

Hope you manage to spend loads of time planning before you make big mistakes and costly errors too, the book also gave planting ideas for easy care and management, store was Barns and Noble, love the gardening section there but also your local library might have what you want too and they are free.

Good luck and kindest Regards, stay in touch if you need further help.
WeeNel.