Beginner Gardening: Need advice on what to do with dry, no light spot, 1 by green_willow

green_willow wrote:
I have a second story deck that spans the front of my house. My front entryway is under this deck. To the right of the entryway is a two foot retaining wall and then a little garden area. It is very dry there and very dark. The photo I have attached (sorry its not all that great) shows about the best results I have ever gotten and that was not the robust inviting entry garden I have been dreaming about.

Recently, I moved the plants you see about five feet out, away from the house, still in the shade of the deck (the house faces east) but where they will get at least a little rain. Then I covered the dirt with cocoa bean mulch. I also threw out a cute little terracotta planter of white impatiens that I had on the big stone you see in the photo because it was near death from lack of sun. : (

I need to have something inviting in that area. However, I have given up on the idea of plants. I'd like to just take the whole darn thing out, make it level with the sidewalk and put in cement, but the problem is that the brick on the house doesn't go down that far. I am also not ready to spend the cash to do that right now.

Our house is contemporary and we live in a wooded area. The area is about 8ft x 8ft.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what I can do with this space? Sculpture???? Something??? Anything??