Decided to change our planting area - questions!

We have a 14x4 plot in front of the house. It gets full sun most of the day and would be great for planting. We also have a 20x8 area on the side of our house, which would face to the east, that gets a decent amount of sun during the day. I'm debating making that area into a larger planting area than what we'd have out front.

My questions are as follows:

1) What would be good to plant there? I think we're a 3a or 3b hardiness zone.

2) Will garden border be good enough to deter any skunks from digging into the garden without having to raise it?