I am going to try and post a pic later, but basically we are tenants in a duplex on a street full of duplexes. we don't really have our own yard, and both the front and back door of our unit open into what most people would call a "front" yard (with street access). I don't do anything by the back door mainly because that is where the trash cans are kept and I don't want the kids around them...yuck.
But we have a nice space of yard in the front, by the driveway, and a small patch of yard between our door and the neighbor's door where ds seems to gravitate for play. It is constantly getting muddy/trashed no matter how hard I try to keep it up and I finall just started pulling up all the weeds since there is very little grass there anyway.
It is about 10 feet by 6 feet, so not very big. ds has a kid size basketball hoop there and a few trucks/random toys that stay outside. I would lioke to make it a combination of a few plants, either for food or just flowers, and a place for ds to at least store his toys, if not actually play right there. I was thinking maybe paving stones or something? Grass just does not work there....it constantly gets muddy and weeds just take over. Plus the neighborhood kids are constantly dumping their trash in our yard which makes it look even worse. I feel like if I made it into a dedicated space of some sort maybe they wouldn't keep throwing wrappers, empty bottles etc into it. Any ideas?
ETA pictures....I know it looks really junky
http://i47.tinypic.com/102jbwg.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/qxq4he.jpg
But we have a nice space of yard in the front, by the driveway, and a small patch of yard between our door and the neighbor's door where ds seems to gravitate for play. It is constantly getting muddy/trashed no matter how hard I try to keep it up and I finall just started pulling up all the weeds since there is very little grass there anyway.
It is about 10 feet by 6 feet, so not very big. ds has a kid size basketball hoop there and a few trucks/random toys that stay outside. I would lioke to make it a combination of a few plants, either for food or just flowers, and a place for ds to at least store his toys, if not actually play right there. I was thinking maybe paving stones or something? Grass just does not work there....it constantly gets muddy and weeds just take over. Plus the neighborhood kids are constantly dumping their trash in our yard which makes it look even worse. I feel like if I made it into a dedicated space of some sort maybe they wouldn't keep throwing wrappers, empty bottles etc into it. Any ideas?
ETA pictures....I know it looks really junky
http://i47.tinypic.com/102jbwg.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/qxq4he.jpg
so I wouldn't mind the mud. But otherwise, I would definitely throw some potted plants out there. Looks like anything planted into the ground would get trampled pretty quickly! I'd for things kids could munch on - salad greens or peas in cool weather, mint, etc. I'd also grow kitchen herbs (oregano, rosemary, whatever you use often) in pots 
