The lamium yellow Archangel is very invasive, but pretty, as is ivy, but either of these might be too tall and shade out later additions; besides, they can require trimming to look neat as they can develop some height--or you could plant periwinkle (myrtle, vinca minor), which is much neater and lives forever. Since you already have several bare spots, you can have the luxury of trying out several plants in those spots before deciding what would work best. It partly depends on how low maintenance you want your bank to be. A neighbor of mine chose to simply heavily mulch a similar bank, adding a few sun tolerant hostas for emphasis. On the other hand, you could have a lovely rock garden in the bare spot where the dog is standing--it could have herbs or flowers or a combination of the two, or possibly (less work) an interesting combination of spreading succulents and things like hen and chicks. You basically plant the plants you like and then artistically position rocks of various sizes between them to act as mulch. As the plants spread, you can reposition the rocks and expand the rock garden in any direction you wish. Banks like that are a headache to mow or plant. If your budget allows, you may eventually want to consider hardscaping possibilities--some sort of retaining wall with fill behind it to even out that part of your property. Then you could have lovely trailing plants peeping over the edge. Eventually, as you plant more and add humus and mulch, the area will retain more moisture and your plant choices will increase. I had a dry spot like that in front of my house, with barely visible grass that was always dried out. I enclosed it with small shrubs and allowed leaves to accumulate and break down into humus. The soil is much richer now, and I can add anything I want at this point. You have the bank as an additional problem. Some simply plant shrubs along such a bank to cover it, but that would require careful positioning and pruning to keep them from growing over the sidewalk, and some sort of vine or myrtle, etc underneath to prevent erosion.

there is corn in the pic above??? .. perhaps you loaded the wrong pic??? ... i have a weed called dock that looks like that ... aphids can be sprayed off with plain water ... if you want to go wholly organic.. do not be upset with a little leaf damage ... the pic above.. isnt all that bad.. if it has stopped.. and you figure that out.. by watching newly emerging leaves.. and whether they are damaged .. if not.. then your first cure worked ... you have to understand.. that spraying.. curing.. is not going to make the holes disappear.. and you have to figure out if one cure worked.. before you go piling them on.. as to the first pic.. i would be looking for small caterpillers/worms.. on the reverse.. of the exact same color as the plant .. they are after all.. what they eat ... see link ... if you find them.. squish them and be done with it ... no need for sprays etc ... lift them out with a stick.. and put them on the ground.. and squish them.. the brave do it with their fingers.. [and keep looking for them, if the new growth is munched on] and realize.. aphids are suckers.. they are not chewers .. so you need to zoom in on what your damage is.. rather than some particular bug ... ken ps: the bird could have beat you to the luscious worm ... after all.. they are what they eat.. lol ... Here is a link that might be useful: link

You can see the step up from the concrete pad to the house back door. I am thinking about laying treated 4x4's on the concrete pad and laying the decking on that from house to old deck. Then re-decking the old deck with same decking. There would still be a small step down to new deck and a small step up to old deck. My other thought, other than just removing old deck, would be to lower the old deck and rebuild it and new deck over concrete slab all at same height. I have also played wth the idea of just tiling over the concrete slab; but I really like the idea of decking in that, and the old area. On the other hand, the whole existing thing is a nonfunctional UGLY mess. I may be better off just ripping it all out and starting over. One other concern is the fact it is really wet in Columbus MS, and I wonder about having a deck that is only 8" or so off the ground. Heck, I may be better off just ripping it all out as stated and pouring a new slab in the size I want. Comments on any of this greatly appreciated.

I put in a curbless wheel chair accessible shower in my only fill bathroom. I had my builder add a floor drain to the room to act as backup in case the shower ever floods. THAT is what you should do if you want a curbless shower in a rental. BTW, I recently did overflow my shower for the first time. My brand new thick cotton mat was between the shower and the floor drain. It was so heavy with water that I could just barely lift it onto the grab bar in the shower to let it drip dry. Two days later, I had to hang it outside in the sun to get it dry. What did I do to flood outside of the shower? I am not sure! I suppose I could have let the hand sprayer turn toward the curtain. Or maybe the big wad of hair that I had peeled off my fingers that had crossed between the shower floor and the room floor had made a bridge for the water to follow. I have been shedding a lot of hair lately and it has gotten quite long during the stay-at-home time. Whichever it was, I have not had so much water leave the shower before. My trench drain is in the front of the shower, between the shower floor and the room floor. But it would not take long for a clogged wall-side trench drain to let water leave the shower, either. A trench drain is no different than a single middle drain, it just has a long, skinny collection trench on top of the drain hole. I would not put one in a rental unit. Another way to have an even more foolproof shower is to get a solid surface (like Corian) shower pan. Since they can be installed in a day, the money you spend on a higher price material can be offset by lower installation cost. Corian walls are also foolproof. The cleaning people can’t hurt it. Any scratches that happen (though it is not easy to scratch) can be buffed out in place. No grout lines. No mold or mildew. Waterproof and it does not fail. See if you can see a Corian or Swanstone shower in a local showroom. Swanstone has some nice patterns now, too. You can get a white-on-white granite look, white with colored specks, or a white and gray swirl. Here is a link https://swanstone.com/en/collections-and-finishes/collections/swanstone to their site. People with Swanstone and Corian showers say that they look the same as the day they were installed twenty years later. Be aware that Swanstone Veritek is not the same as their solid surface Swanstone product. It is fiberglass, I think. At least consider a true solid surface shower.