A better reason to not rototill is that you will never be able to level the yard. You can level the surface but the subsurface will be uneven. Then when the fluffy soil on top settles over the next 3 YEARS, it will settle down to the contour of the uneven subsurface. No matter how hard your soil may seem it is NOT compacted. Those plants you have now cannot grow in compacted soil. You have a lot of shade so your grass choices are limited. One very popular shade grass is fescue. The others are two varieties of zoysia that will grow in shade. I believe one is Diamond (in your neighborhood) and the other is Shadow Turf (out of Texas).

Seakrits, You could also go to a website that sells plants and look at the pictures to find the ones that came with your house. I am really bad at remembering names of things, so I use plant markers and I label everything I plant so that I can remember later what it is. You can buy metal markers at the store (like in the Garden section of Walmart), or you can also cut up old mini-blinds and write on them and stick them in the ground. Can you ask Grandma what kind of bulbs she gave the kids? As for mulching, in general you just put it on top of the dirt, being careful not to cover over plants you already have. You can buy "living mulch" that is a combination of mulch and compost, and it will help your soil. Eventually (in theory), worms will come up from the soil into the compost and mix it all together for you. For added weed prevention, you can also put down a thick layer of newspaper (or cardboard) under the mulch. Most weeds/grasses won't be able to grow up through it, and that will cut down on your weeding in the future. Then, to plant plants in that area, you just dig down through the mulch/compost and tear through the newspaper for each hole for each plant, so its roots can get to the soil. If you have a large area you're working on, it'll be cheaper to buy your mulch and/or compost in bulk. There are garden centers that will sell you mulch by the cubic yard for about $30-40 (more if they deliver to your house). A small pickup truck can carry a cubic yard no problem, and you can usually spread it out in one morning. As an example, I can mulch my front flowerbeds, which run the length of my house, so about 60' long by 2' wide, with a cubic yard of mulch (although I actually use the mulch/compost mix). Another good way to make new beds is a method called "lasagna gardening." You can search it on this website (or just google it), and learn a lot. I wouldn't even bother with a vegetable garden if you're wanting to sell the house next year. Too much work for one year's bounty. You could grow a couple of tomato plants in with your flowers, though, and it would work out fine. Here is a link that might be useful: Source to look up what plants you already have

Speaking from the experience of having a basement that used to flood, the former owners had a concrete patio under a deck on the side of the house where the ground sloped toward the house. The concrete patio also sloped toward the house which is a violation of building codes and common sense. There is a formula for a certain amount of slope going away from the foundation of the house. Your original side yard probably was very good for drainage, and changing it will make water pressure against your basement. I spent a lot of time creating ditches rather like your original one to protect our basement from future flooding. The low part in the middle could have a brick or concrete walkway, and the sloping sides could be planted with a variety of perennials for a nice green look. Then you wouldn't have needed a retaining wall in that area, but I would have wanted to install a retaining wall on your bigger slope past the deck to make a level terrace that would be a good place for some trees. So before everything is set in stone, I would advise that you find out what the code is for slope away from a foundation and follow it. BTW, your photos and diagrams are excellent!

I think Rhizo is imagining you've got more good plants with Old McDonald weeds, here-a-weed, there-a-weed... between a lot of "keepers." If it's more like that, it would be a matter of asking yourself, do I have the time to pull all of these plants up? Some people opt to remove the "good plants" to make it easier to smother large, unbroken areas. Wherever there's a gap in the smothering, weeds are, well, not suppressed, so if it's thin strips between good plants, smothering won't help much. As perspective, in my minds' eye, I see your beds as mostly devoid of desirable plants, with much space between those that would be "keepers." Although I wouldn't begrudge someone's use of chems to establish control, it would be preferable to me to smother where possible. I would define possible as any spot where I can completely cover a patch of weeds with newspaper or cardboard in large enough areas around existing plants so I could cover it with several inches of mulch without having the mulch wash "into" the existing plants. It's not that I have anything against using chems to establish control, but that's only part of the issue. If it's been lawn or neglected "flower bed," likely the soil does not have good tilth, fertility, drainage. Even this type of very basic lasagna can be incredibly helpful in all of these regards. If your dedication and determination extend as far, it's so easy to add other amendments as part of/when smothering. I like to put bagged lawnmower clippings under the paper in case it has seeds in it. (Then when the paper/cardboard contacts it, you've got a good green/brown thing composting under there.) Between the paper/cardboard and the mulch, one can add compost, leaves, whatever seed-free, easily decomposed organic matter is available. When you stick a shovel in later, that fall is OK if you want to add some shrubs/perennials, next year for summer annuals and anything more, you should be amazed by the difference. There's also an impatient form of smothering where one uses whatever they can keep in contact with the soil. A tarp or sheet of plastic, pieces of metal, the bags of mulch you will eventually use in that area, anything that will cover up the weeds until they die. After a time, you remove the cover and see if it's dead. Once you determine everything is, cover with mulch, compost, whatever your plan is, then start gardening. IME with using both methods many times, a smother layer of paper and the longer wait is worth it in the future. The quick-smother often results in the sprouting of many seeds that were at the surface but just hadn't decided to grow yet, especially right where you dig holes to add the plants that couldn't wait until next year, pretty much thwarting your efforts. With options, you can choose the best one, which you may decide is spraying. If so, putting a cardboard box upside-down on nearby plants can be helpful to avoid the mist from getting on them. Try to do when...