I would take out the grass in my yard. Have it landscaped with flowers and a pathway or two in the front yard. The back yard would have some flower areas and the rest garden with something soft in those pathways.
Great idea and I did similar many years ago.
Now I only have grass to mow along the sidewalks on the street side and a bit in the back yard.
The rest is all mine. Only veggie things I grow up front where most of my permanent perennial plantings and spring bulbs are established is a few patches of onions and garlic plus a couple of basil plants up near the house.
The back yard is where all my vegetables grow. Of course on two sides I have deep plantings of screening shrubs, very tall and impossible to see through.
My cop "friends" hate this, because it would allow hiding places for fleeing suspects. I just remind them that they do not need to worry and that if they are in my yard, they are MINE!
They gave my mom the same crap, told her that since she was a senior citizen the city would pay to come in and cut everything down and remove it all. FUCK! She had spent thousands of dollars buying special flowering shrubs and paving little trails all through it so my wheelchair bound father could enjoy his final years, in his own back yard just moments from the kitchen table any time he felt like it.
