I have to make CSS Zen more zen

I've been stuck on this "L" shaped layout and initially was going to go with a zombie theme. However, I think there'd be way to many colors involved and the site would get bogged down with graphic elements. I think I'll stick to earth textures, like looking at a cut away of a lawn with the grass being the open head space and then fading to black. In this layout, the largest black box is the main body text; the boxes at the bottom link out to other css zen gardens, and the right column is for the html and css link availability.

I've got to keep things simple, harmonious. For a background color scheme behind the text, I want to stay with opaque greens and light, warm browns.