Backyard

Here are some photos of the backyard. I spared you a photo of the hideous metal shed that takes up 25% of the yard. Instead, I give you apples:

I have no idea how a tree that is so totally butchered can produce so many apples. It is quite a nasty sight to behold. And the apples are EVERYWHERE!!!! That tree will be removed as soon as humanly possible. It hangs over the roofline, and also hangs into my neighbor's yard, so I'm going to remove it now before it has a chance to cause some more serious trouble.

That shed next to the apples is also going to be removed asap. Doing so will give me a little patio (approx 4' x 5') on which I can put my bistro table and chairs. Nice. That's the window to the big bedroom, so I'm even thinking about making that a door so I have access to my nice little patio.

There are some healthy looking camellia plants near the back wall of the house. I'll be interested to see what they do. I'll leave them alone for now.

As you can see below, I desperately need a new fence on two sides, so I'll negotiate that with the neighbors after the rest of the construction is complete. At that point, I hope they'll realize that I'm adding tons of value to their property by improving mine, and a shiny, sturdy new fence will only further that trend.
Since I know your interest is so piqued, and I'm sure you're tired of seeing apples, here's little corner of the Big Ugly Shed peeking out from the left side of the photo:
I plan to post that bad boy as a freebie on craigslist. I might leave it there during construction if they want to use it for storage of equipment or materials since my garage storage it pretty small.

I'm thinking of doing raised beds along the fences, but landscaping is really the least of my worries at this point, so I have plenty of time to come up with some ideas. I'm open to suggestions!