You could incorporate the pond by adding some rocks with a bit of presence - groupings along the back curves. And not dinky rocks, something with some heft and shape but that won't overpower the size of the pond; and buried in a bit not to look plopped by some magical accident. Interplant the rocks with a few specimens that can handle a western exposure, but not sure what they would be in your zone. Dragon's Blood sedum is a low growing creeper, hens & chicks. An annual sweet potato vine could be trained into interesting cascades. All I know is when it comes to gardening/landscaping for the DIYer is that the heart knows what the heart wants. Most of us non professionals cut our teeth by trial and error; by pouring over gardening books before the advent of the internet; by skulking around local garden centers; by overplanting things that just weren't quite appropriate; by making mistakes and replacing failures until something actually worked; by realizing it's a plant and not "my baby" (as I so often see plants referred to on some of the forums) so it can be uprooted, discarded, replaced without trauma.

This weekend my neighbor rented a power edger. I looked out and thought "what an idiot" when I saw him with his goggles and ear muffles on trying to maneuver this huge machine while it kicked up dirt. Then an hour later I saw that he had all the beds in his front yard and backyard nicely edged...hmmmm. I will stick with using my flat blade shovel. The half moon edgers look nice and I might purchase one some day. There was one design I saw that let you step with one foot in the middle of the edger which seems like a good idea. I have also edged beds with a hefty knife, though I think the shovel might be easier. - Brent

It's a vast improvement over the shrub-engulfed house we first saw, merely by being cleaned up. One thing that jumps out to me as not enough, is the groundcover, which are few and far apart. The goal is usually to get groundcover to grow into a solid mass for the best look and so as not to need top dressing with mulch anymore and still have weed suppression. But I imagine you'll be doing some tweaking over the next year. As far as watering, it's hard for someone, by remote, to tell you if you've watered long enough. There are a lot of variables in how you might be doing it and with what equipment. If in doubt, dig down and see. It won't take you long to discover the right timing formula.

you definitely want to seal the holes in the wall. i would also put in a french drain under the bed, with perf pipe directing the water down to at least the lower sidewalk, but at an angle so as to not flow back into the garage. BTW, teh cost for this would be probably less than 100.00 if you did it yourself. cheaper to try it first than to do concrete. EVEN if you do concrete, you will have to seal those holes. water will still get under there. at least by directing it away you lessen the amount against the house.