Talk to your neighbours and local plant nursery about what grows well. Pebbles and decking are low maintenance. Drought tolerant plants. Create some pathways to create little ‘rooms’ and plant these rooms except for a sitting area. Add furniture.

You can cover your septic with a large artificial rock and plant around it , or landscape with pots, using hard landscaping with pavers, pebbles and decking gives a great and useable garden, plant with native grasses and as Kate suggests checking out what grows well in your area.

It really depends how far you want to get with the landscaping, keeping it simple or add interesting features like a fire pit , a bit of crazy paving and pebbles, pavers and a water feature, or a decking and outdoor umbrella for shade, continue with the dark fence and look at planting a few trees to give you shade in the summer.

How low maintenance and how functional?

Do you need any grass for a pet? Outdoor clothesline? Somewhere to sit and relax? Shade?

Climate, soil, orientation, will make a difference to what grows easily and what doesn't. The right choices planted as a cheap tubers could give you a nice result quite quickly.

That artificial rock is a brilliant solution Julie!