Any ideas for my small back yard?

Hello - I live in a townhouse and have a very small backyard as can be seen in the attached pic. I’m looking for any ideas as to what to do. We have put wood chips around the pine tree for years but after a week or two they usually get pounded down and grass/weeds begins to grow in it. Also, the grass off our patio is very weedy and splotchy even though the picture doesn’t show how bad it is. It’s hard to grow a good thick lawn off our patio it seems. Not sure if it’s because of the nearby pine tree?

Anyhow, does anyone have any ideas what we can do to…1) get a thicker, less weedy lawn? 2) options for under the pine tree that will hold back the weed growth and look a lot better?

I’ve toyed with trying to grow a bent grass so it remains low and tight but not sure if it would take a lot to get it to grow. Also, I’ve thought of trying stone slabs under the pine tree too but I’m thinking it would be a mess with sap, etc. and trying to keep them fairly clean

I know it’s a small area but I would like to have it look much nicer. Thank you for any and all suggestions/ideas.

 

So that is due to not enough wood chips, get over 4" deep and weeks will not grow through, 6" is best!

 

I'm no green thumb, but have been fighting with the grass at our place. Around pine trees, I was told to treat with lime to balance the PH levels. I don't have the product I used, but did a pass like grass seed with a lime under where our neighbor's pines are, then grass seed and fertilizer. It's working so far, so this would be worth trying.

As for the wood chips, my mother in-law was told by another neighbor to put news paper under her chips. Funny enough, the area she put chips down without paper has some weeds poking out, and so far the part with paper has none.

 

Thank you for the helpful replies! I agree...I don't think I had enough wood chips! I will try 6" depth next spring. Never heard of the newspaper down first either but makes sense and is biodegradable!

Thank you for the tip on growing better grass! Going to try the lime to balance the pH levels too!

Thank you both again! Much appreciated!