Planning my garden

It's getting really cold here and all I can think about is my garden. I really want to work outside again to finish up my yard. I'd love to be able to enjoy it this year without the field of weeds (okay, a field is a huge exaggeration since we live in one of those new developments with small back yards). Last summer we started covering the lawn area with pavers. We finally admitted to ourselves that we can't maintain a lawn. And the space was way too much space for me to maintain with plants. So we used pavers and made a checker board for the kids. I put aside a few areas for some raised planter beds.

The area on the right that is unpaved will be paved this spring with larger pavers. I have a dream of having a small trellis over it covered in grapes. I might have to settle for wisteria or something though as I'm not sure what the success rate of grapes is here.

But I would like to start planning what I'm going to plant in the few areas I have. The first area is this area around my only green plant in the yard. I can't really do flowers as my husband dislikes bees. I know they are beneficial in a garden, but they will have to survive on the flowering vegetable plants. If there are too many bees (or any stinging insect), my husband (and the kids) prefer to stay inside. Besides, I'd also like to have the little planting areas I have to have useful plants - like herbs. I love herbs. They make the yard smell awesome and I love to send the kids out for herbs when I'm cooking.

So, I'm wondering what I should plant in this spot. And whatever I plan there needs to be protected or be able to withstand slugs as they come by the masses from under the deck. I'd welcome suggestions for this area... and how to combat my slugs. I have a copper tube along the other side of the deck and I'm thinking I might have to do the same thing on this side - but they are so pricey. Did I mention that I'm on a budget (really, it's that I'm cheap).