Good soil + strawberries and herbs + pig face + myoporum purpureum + succulent/cacti + paint a beautiful colour (with excellent surface preparation). All and any of those will take interesting but ordinary, which you currently have, to gorgeous and eyecatching. Go for it! May the force be with you! ;-)

Hi all, Sorry for the slow replies and thanks for the input so far. From what I've read online a re-inforced besser block wall should be about $600 p/sqm including footings in Sydney (Hornsby shire council area). Given the wall is 1m x 10m it should be let's say $7k including design and DA or am I way off? I'd also need to dispose of the current wall + footings but I could probably give the blocks away. The paved area is about 40sqm. Would it be safe to assume $200 p/sqm for concrete base, paver supply (travertine) and install (coping and surrounds)? So the wall and and paving would cost let's say $16k + fencing + cladding. This isn't too bad considering how much better it would look and the value it would add to the house. I like the flexibility the besser would give - render, cladding etc are all options. I'm not sure how bad it is structurally it just has a couple of spots where I can see the blocks have pulled apart over time. Below are some pictures of the bad spots. Also looking at the Amber website it says the maximum courses is maximum non reinforced wall height of 972mm (6 courses). It looks like my wall is actually 7 courses un-reinforced. The wall and pool was built back in 2003. I definitely think planting in front of the wall would help, as would removing the lights but I'm in two minds about whether to bite the bullet and do it properly or just hide it.

Clean the wall, paint the fence, plant some plants. You can plant plants that will tolerate the soil you've got but if you improve the soil you will widen your choices and give your plants a better start. Forget fashionable vertical gardens, lovely though they look, unless you do not have space for horizontal gardens and you know what you are doing or are prepared for a steep learning curve. If you are an inexperienced gardener there are easier ways to get started and achieve a very nice result. You appear to have the space for it. Do you want to keep a lot of lawn, or will there be a sitting area or anything else?

I'd identify the hedge plants and seek advice on how to keep them. Growing a new hedge would take time. Some plants tolerate things like root disturbance and changes in pH due to concreting better than others. Modular blocks are not difficult to DIY, getting the foundation right is important but after that it's just assembling it. Or there's sleeper walls but with concrete sleepers so they won't rot again. Ensure there's drainage behind. The only thing is if it's getting above 1m it needs more structural strength. For example one type only needs a level base and some sand for a low wall but needs a concrete footing above 1m. Some aren't suitable for higher walls. You need to look at the specs and installation instructions for each.