Re-designing a very long narrow garden from scratch

Hi All,

I've just bought a small old terraced house with a long narrow garden. It's 15 ft wide and I'm guessing about 5 times that in length - it is so overgrown it is impossible to see or walk or fight your way down to the bottom. So my first job is to gut it - I would like to keep a couple of plants if there is anything nice (a rose bush near the back door for instance) but I'm lost when I try to think of what happens then. I want to grow vegetables,have a compost heap have a patio / sitting / eating area near the back door as it gets the evening sun, have somewhere to dry clothes, somewhere to keep the bins that might stop them from getting too messy as they will have to come through the house once a week... So basically I am looking for design ideas - how to make the best out of a long, narrow space. If anybody could tell me about their experiences or point me towards any resources I would really appreciate it. We are a couple in our late twenties with no plans for children yet so it'll be very much an entertaining and functional garden. I can't afford a landscaper and I am planning on building it up bit by bit over the next year or two. Thanks