You ought to build a proper retaining wall; make sure the foundation is leveled and the foot of the wall should be seated in gravel. Each course should be stepped back toward the slope and the whole thing should be backfilled with gravel, and you need to leave room for water to drain through.

OK. Good input. Thanks.
Anyone else wanna chime in?
Would a stepped back limestone wall be strong enough?
Or should we do concrete? I kinda like the idea of putting ready-made concrete bags back there and letting them harden in place. Then letting grass or creeping vines grow over it.

It's so hard to give good sound advice about something so structural (from a non-engineer). I have seen huge mounds of soil from a badly placed raised bed just flow away with a hard downpour of rain.I would rather err on the side of caution and say you need a proper retaining wall like the other poster suggested.

Pam

ok. Guess I need to have a landscape architect have a look. Anyone else have thoughts?
Thanks.

I agree with both of the other posters. It is too hard to give sound advise to a situation like this and none here want to see anything bad happen even with the best of intended advise. Pay a licensed landscape pro and do the job right seems the best advise I can offer as well
Good Luck
David

Absolutely - hire a landscape architect - not designer. Anyone can be a designer with a little practice, but it takes a landscape architect with the education and knowledge of the engineering side of the structural things in the landscape who is the right person to hire.