A little time spent noticing how you use the space can save you work later.
It’s easy to come home from the garden center with a car full of plants and no clear idea of where they’ll go. Each one looked good on its own, but you still have to work out whether they belong together and whether there’s room for them in the yard.
Before you spend more, give yourself a day to look at the space. Take a chair outside in the morning, then come back at lunch and after work. Make a few notes about the sun, the shade and where you'd actually want to sit. If you keep moving the chair, pay attention to why.
You’ll probably notice things a photograph misses: the view from the kitchen, a route everyone cuts across, or the corner that looks inviting until you’re sitting beside the air conditioner.
How much time do you want to spend looking after it?
If you enjoy tending plants on Saturday mornings, make room for that. If your week is already full and you’d rather have friends over, say so when you’re planning. Maintenance takes time, and it’s easier to allow for it now than to spend every weekend catching up with a garden you meant to enjoy.
Those observations are the beginning of a garden that fits the way you live.