As with practically anything you attempt, your backyard landscape can be a place of fun, provided you put a bit of "you" into it. By this, I mean some of your own imagination and creativity. Not only is this an exercise in beautification of "your space", but at the same time there is a satisfying sense of accomplishment involved here. However, do keep in mind that, you will never achieve this state of mind if you are only able to view the whole thing as a chore.

Let us not ignore the fact that, Yes, there is a fair amount of work involved - this is more popularly known as "gardening". Mowing, weeding, doing the edges, digging, planning for next spring, and planting, are just a few that spring to mind. Quick! Run and hide - NOW!
Or, you could look at it from a different angle. Possibly:
"If I mow that lawn, I'll be able to find the kids more easily";
"If I pull-up those weeds now, whilst they are still small, the job will be much easier for me, than if I leave it till the end of summer";
"If I weed this now, I'll be able to see the late flowering roses";
"Just THINK of all the pretty flowers I'll be able to give to my wife, when this new garden-bed is up and running";
"My wife/spouse will be SO proud of me".

Consider Your Backyard as an Extension of Your Living Space.
Push the boundaries of your indoor living space, incorporate the backyard, and make it the outdoor living space. Have a large, sturdy, picnic-table with suitable chairs - on the patio, or near the pond, next to the rose or herb-garden perhaps. This gets the whole family out-of-doors, fresh-air, sunlight, no T.V. - "in the nature". I can guarantee you, you will have more to discuss if you are entertaining outdoors.

Reflect on Nature's Beauty.
What could be more pleasant than kicking-back with friends and family, in the landscape that YOU have created? Basking in the glow of everyone's praise, as they comment on such a beautiful and relaxing environment you have invited them to share. Ah! The bragging-rights of gardening.

Start Small, Do Not Over-Do it.
One does not necessarily need an over-abundance of imagination and creativity, either, for your backyard to be looking like you actually know what you are doing.
Nor does it have to take a lot of work. Some well placed trees, can hide a great number of eye-sores in your yard. Like the corners of the block. Just a few trees to round-off the sharpness of the corners can do wonders. Fountains and ponds can hide a multitude of sins,also. We're not talking six men and a concrete truck here. Again, start small. Buy yourself a simple pond/fountain set-up, these can be found in most nurseries these days, and see if you can handle this much. Oh, Oh, look out - Yes, there is work involved with a pond. You have to keep it clean - this means trying NOT to let it turn into a large container of green, dead-fish-leaf-filled slop. Not talking about pool vaccums here, just remove the leaves when there are too many. Outdoor goldfish are pretty hard to kill, generally, they will look after themselves.

If you find that this has been a relatively panic-less event, go on to the next project.
So, what's next? Let us be a bit ambitious now, how about a rose garden? Too ambitious? Make it a flower-garden then. Starting small again, about 3 feet wide, 6 feet long; dig it over, remove the weeds, add a small amount of fertiliser, dig it over again (it's easier this time), a bag of mulch to keep in the moisture, water it, then go and have a cuppa. Feeling rested? Good. Now go to the nursery, you are buying two things. A packet of sunflower seeds, and a packet of nasturtium seeds. When you get home - plant them.
No big deal here, the seeds must be in contact with the soil - that's under the mulch. Plant two nasturtium seeds in each corner, plant the sunflower seeds one-hand-span apart, across the rest of the entire bed. Water the bed. Go and sit down - outside. Contemplate what you have just done. You got your hands in the dirt, you have immediately "changed the look of your backyard", you have instigated the creation of life. You have done well. Pat yourself on the back.

Now you are about to embark on the greatest lesson in gardening, namely - patience. Your newly planted seeds will not have emerged by tomorrow, count on it. And don't go fiddling. They will emerge in about 5 days, weather permitting, and sunflowers take 3 to 4 months before flowering. Nasturtiums take about 4 weeks.

Whilst you are waiting to see what will happen, start thinking about planting a few shrubs, along the sides of the yard. One day, in the near future, all of a sudden you will realise - Goodness! The backyard's been landscaped! Hey, wow, I did that! So you see, using a bit of imagination, creativity and a bit of work, you are now able to quietly bask in the knowledge that You have created a backyard landscape, and now it's time to enjoy it.
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