A Small Retaining Wall

My backyard  in 2003, two years after moving in. The fence is new, and the house has been painted (it was powder blue). 

I wanted a level planting bed, so I built a small retaining wall.

This what I had in mind (after transplanting the privet hedge to the uphill side of the wall).  

It has been a very wet Fall in the Northwest.  The moss has responded spectacularly.