Clawing my way forward

I got started on getting this area cleaned up. I am working with a hypothetical goal of making the house presentable as if it were to be shown on the real estate market.
I want to fix this wall by taking down the bad parts and re-building it complete with a new concrete cap. Fixing this wall is complicated by the need to have a rain gutter over this portion of the porch. The concrete porch deck needs to be demolished and replaced with a new deck with drains. The rain pours onto the porch here and gets behind this wall and has to leak out through the joints.
There is much to be done on the whole front porch to bring it up to speed. Just doing this little bit of preliminary work is exhausting. But I have to make progress when and were I am able. Looking at this picture makes me feel better about this area, so it is well worth the effort.
I think a big part of making progress is for me to take it in small bites. I am getting a better feel for proportion. I had to remove an ornamental plant at the far end of this excavation, but I left the one on the right. The area of this project starts about five feet on the other side of the gate and comes past where I stood to take this picture, beyond to the sidewalk, which is about 25' behind me.