2 large conifers gone, what can i plant now?

I have just had 2 very large conifers chopped down at the bottom of my garden. They did provide some privacy for the neighbours but they were wrecking the grass at the bottom of the garden and it looks so much brighter and bigger now they are gone.

We still have the roots and stumps, so my questions is, will I be able to plant in it as normal or will I be limited due to the remaining bits? They were in a raised bed that had a spiky bush in and little else. So now I have a raised bed with 2 stumps and and a stumpy spiky bush! I was thinking of just grassing over the are where they were.

 

Which way is the border facing?

 

Did the people who cut the trees down treat the stumps with a root killer? You have to remember, it wasn`t so much the top growth which caused the problem, but the root system sucking all the moisture and nutrients out of the soil.

 

What's the consensus on removing stumps in this scenario?

The soil will be starved of nutrients from the greedy conifers, so it needs reinvigorating, and clearly taking the stumps out means that the soil can be "tilled", but would just putting 6" of rotted manure down as a mulch reinvigorate the soil enough? I suppose getting some air into the soil would help ... but at times it can be a lot of effort (and mess!) to get the stumps out.

 

The wall at the bottom of the garden is facing south. Here is a picture.

I am now thinking of whether to make the small wall look decent again and then build the soil up a bit and make a nice rockery with some shrubs and stuff.

I want to put trellis on the concrete fence and have some nice climbers all across the back. Can you get evergreen climbers that have a nice flower?

Throw your suggestions at me please.

 

I've got a Honeysuckle (Lonicera Halliana) which is evergreen, as is Clematis Armandii

I would paint the concrete fence first and then attach the trellis, but that's cos I hate the look of concrete - I have painted my concrete fence posts as well as the fence.