I'm not sure I understand the reason for the round raised bed. The side curved bed flows nicely into the bed in front of the porch, and the raised bed seems unnecessary. I think it actually breaks up the flow of the bed.

The bed in front of the porch needs to be deeper, or you won't be able to fit much of anything in it. What did you have in mind for planting there? If all you wanted was a low groundcover shrub planting or a few perennials, you're probably OK, but there's not enough space there for much else. Read some of the other recent threads here and you'll see that it's a common mistake to make beds too narrow.

There have been a few discussions about the extruded concrete edging on this forum in the past. I feel that it looks too commercial to use in a residential landscape. It does address a need for keeping the grass out of the planting beds, but it isn't very attractive. It also means you will have a hard time making any changes or additions to the plantings in the future.

Depending on whether you're a hobby gardener or not, you can either plant the side of the house with groundcover and run a stepping stone path through it, or make a shade garden.

Did the trench for the water line go down the side of the house? If so, you may lose those oaks if the roots were sliced off by the trencher.

Yeah, I am going to make that front bed wider. If you look in the 1st pic you can see where the grass is worn down from my wheel barrow. After I lay the whole side with mulch I was thinking I would bring it out a little bit past that trail.

The trench was dug last spring, 3 times with a back hoe. The guys who did the excavation messed it up bad. We had water coming into the house where they drilled the hole for the pipe to come into the basement when it rained. Anyway... I think the oaks should be ok by now.

I put the raised bed in on a total whim. I was planning on just mounding some extra dirt where it is now so everything was not all flat but got worried about erosion. Would a Japanese maple be ok in it?

Trees with root damage can take several years before they show signs that they have been fatally injured. If it was me I'd get an arborist in to look at them. It would be a shame to lose them.

accordian is correct, if half the root system was damaged, you may see the trees decline in the next few years.

You are not going to mulch before you plant, right?

Plant first, shape the beds to fit your planting, do your edging (if you must), and then mulch.

I don't have a big problem with the raised bed; it may indeed not have been necessary but I can see the problem with the sloping ground that induced you to build it. Main thing is that you like it, and it really doesn't hurt the eyes. A maple in it would be lovely, perhaps also a yew of some sort, maybe a spreading one, to provide some year-round greenery.

I'm also not a fan of poured edging because I like the flexibility to change my mind.

I don't understand the shape of your bed. In the last picture, it looks like the shape of the whole thing is like an upside-down mitten, and I am concerned about the green grass in the space between the thumb and the rest of the mitten. You're going to do away with that grass there, aren't you?

I'm guessing that's going to be replanted with grass. I think that's where the water line was dug up.

Thanks for all the feed back, sorry about taking so long to post back, been working on it. Yes grass is going back in the thumb part of the mitten. :) ThatÂs just where the water line was. Speaking of the water line you have me a bit concerned about my trees and I think I will call in arborist. The other side of the trees on my neighborÂs side got dug up also when they had their water line in. I also need to consult someone for big limbs that hang over our house from these oaks.

Yes I am mulching it 1st. :( I have help right now to hump the mulch on to the bed. Also trying to beat the heat before it gets to hot and I won't have the $$$ to totally fill these new beds now anyway.

Regarding the poured edgingÂÂ.. I have seen a few people near us get this now and it looks pretty nice. The price is also right, 1500 feet for $950. Since this bed goes down my property line, I did not want to make a huge burden for my neighbor to have to trim, or end up getting mulch in his yard all time.