The part I would worry the most is where it stops at the sidewalk. If there was some way of putting another course of the stonework across there to stop dirt/debris moving out of the garden onto public space I'd feel happier (if it were mine.) I don't know if you get snow in winter, or interesting frosts that affect your steps. What impact would having a raised bed there have on your ability to clear snow? If the mulch stays in one place (apart from the birds helping it to move) then you shouldn't have a lot of runoff or downhilll movement of soil. You don't say what you plan to plant there. In my own zone I could think of natives that would tolerate that depth of soil, despite the rubble below. And heaps of weeds, too. Not to mention shrubs and herbs. I'm just thinking that stooping over from the steps to garden could be quite demanding. I like your wood constructions. And I like that blockwork you have out front even better as a match for your house. As well as this forum - you could offer the idea on some of the other forums that get more traffic than this one. PS Love your boulders! They look sort of glacial. Very pretty!

I know what you mean! It seems like the soil gets used up. I just dig up the plants and replant them after refilling the box to the new level. Obviously, you can't do that if the plants are too fragile to take that kind of treatment as in a nursery bed. I have one bed that I use just for nursery purposes and the level keeps going down and I will have to wait until most of the plants are moved to more permanent quarters to refill that box. My beds are 4 feet across and 6,8 or 12 feet long and filled with compost from my livestock. I don't till or agitate the soil in them but add layers to them sort of like lasagna beds. spiderwoman

Not sure how I missed this post! I may end up in a similar situation because my potager is planned for only a 24x24' area at the moment, and the mud has stopped us from even digging that much of it level...but I have a sneaking feeling I'm going to want to expand it this fall, up the hillside. I built a free standing stone planting circle about 25 feet across the first year we had our house, and goldarn it, the thing stood til we moved it to make room for lawn--which is now becoming my potager. It was a LOAD of work though and stones are significantly heavier than they look, heh. I was shocked to realize that a 2'x2' stone weighed well over 80 pounds. That experience, combined with paying someone a ridiculous amount of money last year to rehab hundreds of yards of our existing 1800s stone walls as well as build new ones around the property in various areas,taught me a few things about stacked stone walls: 1) if you are planning to build it yourself, I hope you have a really strong back and a few pairs of heavy gloves! 2) it will take at least twice as much stone as you think. 3) Remember to allow for some drainage, such as a few inches of gravel under the first course of stones. This helps the wall stand much, much better because the groundwater pressure isn't pushing on it every spring and fall. Also, stacked stone walls are meant to move and "give" a little bit, and the gravel allows them some breathing room. 4) If you need a retaining wall much over 12" and still want to do stacked stone, you may want to enlist some skilled help. It's a tricky process, especially for unmortared walls, and it would be awful to put that much work into the project only to have it not work out. I hope this helps! BTW if you don't mind me asking, where on the North Shore are you located? My husband is originally from Great Neck, but we're in Westchester now.

floral, agreed. very inefficient use of space. interesting comment about it being a planter as opposed to a raised bed based on surface area to depth. what kind of surface area to depth ratio would you expect at a minimum for something to be considered a raised bed instead of a planter dan, thanks for the note on the extra high beds getting overly heated in the summer. what did you eventually do with the bed? I wonder if insulating it during the summer could have helped in some way temporarily or maybe even painting it a lighter color so its not absorbing as much heat as a deep red typical of most brick? ill probably take everyones advice and just tear it down. still appreciative of the responses in this thread because it cleared up some learning questions I had about general root growth. however I have one add on question to those that stated that roots at the ground level would invade into the elevated soil in the beds. I did a google search and some reading and came across gravitropism and from my superficial understanding of it, roots will usually grown downwards if they can. if that's the case, am I assuming correctly that the ground level plants roots can still grow UPWARD into the bed but it would take a bit more effort and energy then if they had a free path to grow downward? basically their preference is to grown downward but if there is luscious soil and moisture in a more unconventional area then these roots will go out of their normal path to access those?