it's a jungle out there

H had to go into the office for a bit this Saturday.  While he was doing that. I took it upon myself to weed the backyard.  For two hours.  This is what it looked like after one hour:

The green things along the trellis are actually tomato

plants, beans and morning glories; the green

things in the stone path are weeds.

You see why I whinge and moan about weeding so much?  It's not a big backyard (thank goodness) and half of it is covered by the deck (thank goodness).  The right side, which you can't really see because it's in the shade, is a mulched bed with mostly flowers and it's not too too bad.  The remainder is a disaster.  I managed to cover most of the yard with weed-block fabric a while ago and it is doing its job like a champ; wherever I haven't put weed-block fabric is like the Garden of Eden, if said Garden were nothing but weeds.

I keep telling myself that it's just our first year in the house - first just over six months, technically - and that I don't have to have everything perfect immediately.  It's good to take your time, assess the space and figure out what you want to do.

I'm thinking a couple of big raised beds.  Two or three them so we can plant more veggies/drought-resistant native plants (while there is a sprinklerhead in the back, it's busted so we've just turned it off and I have to water the current veggies by hand).  The soil is actually quite good here - way better than what I had at my house back east - and if we rake up the gravel path, there should be a fair amount of usable soil in addition to all that simmering under the weed-block.  Then the rest of the yard can be river rocks (H is partial to the reddish ones) with perhaps some larger pavers for a walkway.  On top of loads and loads of weed-block fabric, of course.  I certainly don't want to have to keep up with these weeding marathons.

What do you think?  Who among you is landscape/garden-minded and can offer me some ideas?  I need low maintenance, low water and strong afternoon sun tolerant inspirations!