We've got about 120 sf of raised bed at this point. The beds are made using 3/4"x8" (which is really a 7.5" board) cedar boards that are pinned with 2' long sections of #3 (3/8") rebar. Deep beds were made using two boards stacked and I used rebar ties and doubled the pins (one on either side of the board) to provide additional support. All the soil is organic from the bag (I couldn't find a good source for "black dirt" tha tdidn't have seeds or junk in it).
1st section is 5'x10' and is shallow, approximately 6" of soil. We are growing lettuce and peas right now. Once it gets a little warmer we are going to plant cucumbers and squash.
2nd section is 40 sf and is deep with about 10-11" of soil. This currently has 11 tomato plants in it and will be getting carrot seeds in a couple weeks. For the tomatos we use ladders which allows us to keep the plants relatively close together:
Green Tomato Ladders, Tomato Supports buy Gardener's Supply
The last section is approximately 28 sf and is about 6" of soil. We currently have it growing brocolli and a section for stawberries. There is additional room in this section I just don't know what is going to go there.
In addition to the raised beds we have large pots that we plant eggplant and additional tomatoes in and this year we are going to try some hanging tomato baskets:
Revolution Planter buy our Upside Down Tomato Planter Gardener's Supply
I'm going to have to build some kind of enclosure around the tomatos this year as the squirrels ate about half hour tomatos last year...actually what they did was pull a tomato taka couple bites, decide they thought it tasted like crap and then leave it on the driveway
So I'll be doing a little extra work to save the crop this year.
I'm hoping to try some black berries or raspberries along the fence, but it may be too wet and not get enough sunlight.
Next year I'm sure that I will put in at least one other bed that is 10'x4'.
We also use cedar boxes that are about 12" deep and maybe 6" by 24" that we use for herbs: basil, thyme, oregano. Last year we had two different kinds of basil and two different kinds of thyme (one was "normal" and the other was lemon thyme).
Our biggest problem with creating more garden space is shade. The two trees over the garage put most of the backyard in shade. The trees are going to have to come down at some point as they are pushing on the garage... I just have to talk to all the neighbors as the trees are on property lines. Once that happens we can grow more. Also, once I rebuild/re-support the porch overhang we will be able to put a small garden (tomatoes in pots) above it that we can access from the bathroom window. We should be able to put at least 4 large pots up there and still be able to have space to access the plants to pick the tomatoes.
E