"coming round slowly to coming near us" - sounds like there is more going on than the pup just being scared of the back garden and it sounds pretty deep rooted fear. This can happen with older pups who have not got used to things as babies.
If he is happy going out the front for a walk I would be taking him out there for toileting and take the pressure off from the back. The more you try to force the issue the more scared he will be so take pressure off leave the door open and let him decide for himself when he feels it is safe to go out there, when he does he needs the door left open to go back in when he feels he needs to so he can generally expand his safe area.
If he is happy going out the front for a walk I would be taking him out there for toileting and take the pressure off from the back. The more you try to force the issue the more scared he will be so take pressure off leave the door open and let him decide for himself when he feels it is safe to go out there, when he does he needs the door left open to go back in when he feels he needs to so he can generally expand his safe area.