lots and lots of different sized planters, containers, and unconventional containers (an old, discarded toilet?) made my concrete garden space look interesting. here in california, succulents work pretty much year round, but I'm unsure of how they survive during frost/freezing situations.

perhaps also a mismatched garden table and benches?

Oh fun! Twinkle lights for sure! It is almost christmas and the week after they will be five million percent off. Go crazy, string them from a pole attached to the fence all over like a star ceiling.

Invest in a few favorite shiny spray paint colors (yellow and blue?) and start collecting metal chairs or tables from thrift stores and street corners. Put bright colored little conversation clusters around. Put pots on the tables and stick a few fake red flowers in them (of course, switch for live flowers when it gets warm).

bunch all the trees in front of that bin of dead plants and move all the other buckets of pots behind them to hide them from the street.

then get some big stones, bricks, or some rope and make a labyrinth: http://www.labyrinthproject.com/instructions.html

or if one of you is artistically talented, get some colored sidewalk chalk and start drawing.

you want to make it look as though you are intentionally using the space without having to actively grow/maintain something all winter long. then on your labyrinth walks, you can contemplate how to turn your front yard into a Parisian cafe-style seating area, with a lovely little potager, Christmas lights strung from the roof to the fence, the table with the umbrella and some sort of screen for privacy. for now, it looks way too cold to sit out there.

I like the idea of colorful metal furniture. Any chance the landlord would let you paint your front door a cheery color?

not sure if it is your style but add some vibrant colors!
Those planters in your window could be painted, curtains in the windows facing the outside. Made add some cheery waterproof seat cushions to those chairs outside.

for your plant situation maybe move some of the dead ones forward to line the gate and the green ones to surround your doorway. I like the labrynth idea suggested above.

Think scale .. large space = large planters. Window planters should be twice the size and painted a bright color. Maybe add colorful shutters to the windows and paint the front door and the patio furniture while you're at it. "Found" planters can be fun (maybe not a toilet though). Fewer, but larger planters make for better plant displays - evergreen boughs can be added in winter.

Depends on your budget...

Get a 100 dollar business license, then go to a wholesale planter place, preferably one that specializes in Terracotta or Asian glazed pottery. Big water jars, low planters, all kinds of planters filled with bamboo for privacy, pines, maybe a Japanese maple or two, or large grasses for tall stuff. Invest in some self watering hoses so that you aren't a slave to watering in the summer. You could also add some tall trellises to the planters for vines such as Ivy, climbing hydrangea, fragrant night blooming Jasmine, or annuals like cup and saucer vine.

Alternately, you could make large planter boxes yourself.

Bright colored patio furniture (a cheap way to go is to find some stuff on Craigslist or secondhand and paint it yourself), and a table with a colorful umbrella as the focal point would be swell and expand your entertaining and dining options tremendously in the summer.

Outdoor lights and a water feature (even a simple plug in fountain or water lily pond) would also liven things up, while bamboo screen or twig screen would soften things up a lot.

I'm thinking there is so much you could do with this space. I'm pretty inspired by the humble courtyards I've seen in cities I have traveled to such as Bangkok, China, Mexico, Sevilla, and even recently, New Orleans etc. etc.

Wow, such a big space and it just begs to be used. How to do it cheaply???!!!

Scour craigslist daily. You never know what you might get for free or next to free. I'm sure you can get tons of pots and free plants.

Plant things that stay green year round--you can supplement with pretty flowers in the spring/summer, but mostly you want to avoid the death look.

The size of the yard pretty much dwarfs what you have done--can you bring the trees and bushes back toward the house--maybe create a barrier wall with tall things in the middle of the yard?

Maybe with enough free stuff you can get it to look like this:
http://www.deanneart.com/deanne_pics/2007-06-28ContainerGarden6202.jpg

You also definitely need some color. Like this maybe:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1324/827459282_0523f93686.jpg

Have you thought about building an arbor that goes along the left side of the house to the front of the yard? You could plant some ivy to grow up it. Ivy doesn't really go brown in the winter, so it would look relatively fresh all year long. In the summer, you would have a nice, private, shady place to sit. It would also give the area some depth and take away from the flatness of the front of your place.

looks like my yard... I had a rubber-tree plant outside last summer in a vintage pot from my grandparents, and somebody stole it. Lesson: outdoor pots should be too heavy to lift or else someone will.

I'm thinking lattice trellises and canvas canopy, which is light-weight and portable. White lights (which go on sale the day after Christmas) would be nice, just skip the twinkler setting! As you stated, as a renter you want to keep your arrangement flexible - nothing heavy or permanent. I've always found collapsible chairs and tables to be the best bet as a renter or when storage space after a party or over the winter is at a premium. The look you go for should take the immediate neighborhood style into consideration too. Oh, last though here!: power wash that concrete. It'll look 1000 times nicer, believe me!

i had a nice swath of sidewalk yard to deal with, and i love bamboo. so i got some old doors from a re-use place and made 2 ft deep frames and planted some running bamboo in them. Looked great, evergreen--fabulous in winter-- and cheap. Plus contained the bamboo. Just make sure you leave the place while boxes are still standing. They'll eventually rot--so paint em well, maintain them, or move on!

What a great space! And such potential...

Scale is important here. It is a relatively large area, and needs a large statement. Rather than going for lots of smaller scale items, you might consider doing one or two bigger installations. Check this old AT post, for example:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/gardening/public-containers-home-inspiration-053583#comments

I love the galvanized steel container, and these are relatively inexpensive. Obviously getting a large tree would be costly and would pose some installation issues, but you could get a large shrub or other specimen plant more easily.

Since I live in CA, I'm not up on plants that would do well in NY, but you can research and talk to a local nurseryman. You need what is generally thought of as a 'patio tree' or specimen plant. Think about it as a year-round space, and be sure you're not getting something inappropriate (like a tree that will reach 40 feet tall -- that won't work in a planter).

You could even create a water garden with these galvanized tubs...

AT had a post to a specific supplier for these not so long ago, but I seem to have lost the bookmark. Does anyone have it? (I'm want to do a vegetable garden using these.)

Some vines on your fence would be nice, too. Just be aware that the more little pots and plantings you have dispersed, the more time consuming it will be to water and care for everything (another argument for a few larger scale items, rather than lots of small). Soaker hoses snaking through the space could be pretty unsightly.

One last thing: Would your landlord let you paint your door and awning? That would be fabulous.

How about a small free-standing wooden deck placed in the center, just to give the space some varied ground height?

I have two 8x8 foot pieces of really high quality astroturf I could sell you. They really look like grass, not the carpet that hardware stores sell. I used them last year for an art installation. If you're interested you can contact me at homebodyNY-at-gmail-dot-com. I can send some pictures. They are currently in my studio in Williamsburg.

If it were my yard I'd use sub-irrigated grow boxes to create a combination edible and flower garden. Do-it-yourself versions are inexpensive, portable and far superior to maintaining plants in typical drain hole pots.

You will use less water to grow more food and maintain more healthy decorative plants. These boxes are a green, green solution.

This type of grow box garden can be installed on any paved surface, balcony or city rooftop. If you want to grow some vegetables all you need is 6 hours or more of sunlight.

Where are you in NYC? I live in Bay Ridge and might be able to help if you're not too far away. No charge! I'm not a business...just working on promoting the concept. To the best of my knowledge there's no place in NYC where you can learn about grow box gardening at the present time.

UrbanGreenscaper [AT] gmail.com

I second/third/fourth the labyrinth, a water feature, bigger scale and more color. Maybe you could start near the door, and carve out a private sitting area, using the trees and plants as a screen, and then expand outward.

I have a roof space about this size but my options are more limited because of the weight factor. With concrete, though....you could put some dwarf fruit trees in large pots, construct a grape arbor, have a vegetable garden, herb garden, perennial garden...check the garden centers and lowe's/home depot when they are running sales. If you have a southern exposure, you could construct a temporary greenhouse that would give you somewhere to sit on sunny winter days. You could even put in a hot tub with the concrete for a base!

I did a labyrinth with glow in the dark paint, and tea lights. It was really fun to have.

I would go to a landscaping store or stone and gravel wholesaler and buy bulk marble chips to spread out over top of the concrete. String the round, globe type outdoor lights from front to back (you might need to put up some posts in the front corners to carry these.) Get some larger, glazed pots for the plants and trees. Get at least one that doesn't have drainage hole in the bottom and use it for aquatic plants, such as waterlilies for summer.

i would put a large tub pot underneath each window, but choose plants that won't grow so high as to block the windows. i think go with the white as you've done for that planter. agree with others who say you need BIG pots. i can't make plant suggestions for you as i live in a very different sthn hemisphere climate.

i would use either brightly coloured pots or whites/creams instead of teracotta coloured. i would also line large pots around the perimeter of the entire fence as you've done at the front - again, bigger pots and either lighter or brighter colours.

then i would create another square shape of pots in the middle of the space with a water feature or a large tree or something in the middle...you need to do something to break up the space andmake it look used/planned. if that makes sense?

i agree about painting your front door - a colour that suits your pot colour scheme. i would tend to go for something light...i know it's winter for you guys but the space looks dark.

have fun

Big planters, big rocks ( think japanese garden ), some water with gold fish. And plant thyme in the cracks (add a little good soil before... ) between concrete, you'll be surprised after one year!

Would your landlord ever go for ripping out all the asphalt? Because if he / she would - then Bob's your uncle. Take it from one who knows, container gardening takes MUCH more water and effort than conventional gardening. Even if Ll wants you to pay for a bit of it, or will pay for the equipment and you have to do the labour - it will be well worth it to have a big lovely yard in the end You can get free fill and garden furniture from CL, it's listed all the time. Otherwise, I'd think about creating areas and in the large asphalt space- use rocks to line the walkway to the door, create ' beds' of things in various spots to define the space. Maybe you can paint the asphalt , or put astroturf over it or parts of it for super campy base to your work. I'd also cruise the flower district after stores closed for discarded and distressed plants - if you have a green thumb you can nurse them back to health and it'll go a long, thrifty way to filling in the space. Have fun and good luck!

In this old Apt Therapy post, a shop in Austin was using old irrigation pipe as painted planters. Looks pretty good, and it has the scale you need for that space:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/look/look-irrigation-pipe-plantersaustin-texas-055953

You can also make your own inexpensive faux-stone containers:

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/gr_indoor_container/article/0,2029,DIY_13849_3251140,00.html

The great thing about this is you can use everyday objects as a mold. So if you can find a discarded cardboard drum - one used to ship some dry goods, for example - you could use that to form a big cylindrical stone planter. You could vary the heights, too.

I would either go to a flea market and buy some window shutters, or put up lattice trellises between the windows. There would at least be something to not make it look so barren. Maybe some pine branches in the flower boxes for winter color. I also agree with everyone that more and varied pots would be great, although nothing in pots (that I'm aware of) will survive a really cold winter. You could also get some strings of LED lights, weave them through the fence and leave them up all year long. They look great in the summer with all the greenery.

You badly need horizontally slatted, cedar planters in strategic spots. The warmth of the wood will compliment the brick and concrete nicely.

Paint the concrete. If you can't come up with an original graphic design, rip one off. Show the design to your landlord for his approval. I'm sure he'll be happy to enhance his property. There is concrete paint. There are also fabulous Roman floors that can be copied. Simple geometric designs that have an eternal quality to them.

you could use cement blocks They are really cheap and go far. You could make a wall for privacy> Mine are filled will mint. The leaves hang over the blocks even in winter and no one knows what is underneath.

!!!

http://www.thedeckingoutlet.com/

Brutally realistic perspective:
This is such a big space. The plantings you have there are a good start but they're dwarfed by the size of the yard. Maybe deliberately use only part of it, at least at first: maybe surround the dining table and chairs with plants and trees to create a little usable sanctuary. If you then want to fill the rest of the yard with other stuff later you can do that, but I don't think you need to be obligated to do so right away.

Brutally dreamy perspective: Pink or blue astroturf. Or, invite local sculptors to showcase their art and have a sculpture garden. Or both!

Could you take out the concrete and plant actual grass? I have no idea how hard that is to do.

My organization would very much like to use a photo from this post in a upcoming green publication. can you please email me at djb at urbangreencouncil dot org.