[clemmons]

We live on a small city lot in a North Dallas suburb. Our back yard is tiny and sloping. We want to level it so we can put a play fort back there for our children. We have a small vegetable garden on the adjoining side yard (also tiny - only about 6 ft wide between the house and the alley) that we would like to keep intact. Maybe some steps leading down to it.

We will need a retaining wall, probably 3-4 ft high max. I keep reading about retaining wall problems and would like to avoid them! We do not plan to do any of the work ourselves because there is a wall involved.

Any tips or hints for us as we interview contractors? Also, since the yard is very small and we want the surface to be safe for the kids as they fall (and they will!), I thought about putting 12-18 inches of mulch/wood chips on the entire area and just putting plantings in beds around the edges. No grass. Any thoughts?

Thank you!