Need ideas of what to do in this area of my backyard

[Chuck-D]

The skunks are after grubs and night crawlers , and this particular gras is a bit dry and leathery and doesn't really appeal to raccoons wich have no saliva glands . I'm about 6 hrs north of you and have similar pest issues, including deer and the occasional moose or bear .Similar weather too this year , last week we had mid 40's today was 94 .
Peppermint is a decent ground cover and has an odder most mammal type pest find offensive.

 

[Munch517]

It's basically 95% shade that area, would it work?

Probably not then, everything I read says 6-8 hours of sun for grapes. You could probably grow the vine, just wouldn't get much if any fruit. If you like the idea of something vining up the fence just go to your local nursery and explain your situation, including the shade and the pests, and they should be able to help you. That's probably a better approach for any plantings you choose since you'll likely be limited to what's available locally anyway.

 

[RickRyb]

Any consideration to putting in a shallow running stream with a couple water plants? Papyrus, etc.

 

[Tetters]

A small stumpery with ferns would look good in a shady corner. A small pond with fountain could fit in.

 

[Mr_Yan]

It's shade but it certainly doesn't look like heavy dark shade. And there's a lot of white vinyl fence bouncing light around in there.

I'd say look into something like a honey berry bush or blue berry bushes. Plant two of either of them about half the distance the plant tag says to plant them. Then under it plant about half a dozen strawberry plants.

 

[Michbau]

A nice place for a small green house

 

[SeniorCitizen]

If looking for a low maintenance ground cover consider researching one of the Many cultivars of Mondo grass ( AKA Monkey Grass ). I have similar weather conditions and poor soil for this on the north side of the house between a concrete walk and the house. With these conditions it seldom achieves a height of more than 6-8 inches but our daughter that has this same grass on a south facing area and much better soil has monkey grass over 12 inches tall.

The 2 pics are of summer time and when it is mowed once/year in February with my string trimmer. It spreads by Rhizomes and was sprigged in with sprigs from our daughters residence. A sprig at about 8-10 inch intervals will cover in about 6 weeks with good growing conditions but any invasive spreading can be easily controlled.

 

[jm0928912]

the territory is small. so you need to think things through. try using the services https://landscape.directory/listing/continental-landscape-management/. they always have good ideas