Thank you. Your comments are very helpful. I'm getting a lot of good ideas about what I can do to improve this. I think the real answer (aside from adding the remaining fence and landscaping) lies in good thread work. I'm not an expert at that either, but I like the idea of this being a learning project.
Also, I have posted it on the discussion of my QU class. No response yet, and I don't think the image has made its way into the gallery either. It's Sunday. Maybe nobody is working on Sunday.