Hi all,

I am pretty new to gardenweb and very new to raised bed gardening. I am not sure if this is the correct forum to post this but I figure SFG is the place to start. I am creating a raised bed garden area in my yard. The area is approximately 66'X 64'. All of that space won't be used for raised beds. I have used 2X12 lumber salvaged from the floor of our horse trailer to construct 2 3'X6' raised beds that I plan to put flowers in. Not sure I want to grow veggies in that bed after hauling cattle and horses in the trailer for years. I purchased more 2X12 18' boards from a community building material recycling store. I want to build a 4'X 16' raised bed for raspberries. I realize that I will have to drive stakes along the sides for support. I plan to dig down a bit to put in a weed barrier of some sort-maybe newspaper- to stop runners and put down chicken wire to discourage gophers.

Has anyone had experience growing raspberries in this type of bed? I read on a thread on GW that suggested growing raspberries in partial shade, I thought they needed full sun to do well.

I also plan to have a separate bed for strawberries that will be smaller. I have several livestock water tanks that are rusted so thought I would partially bury a couple in the ground and put rock around them to disguise them a bit. I enjoy looking at other gardeners ideas for recycling materials that otherwise would be discarded so please share your ideas, pictures are great! At the same recycle store I found large chimney liners that I am dying to use in the garden. Maybe grouped together at varying heights as planters, a water feature, or glue some stepping stones to them for a series of tables?