Weather was nice enough to get one of the raised beds raised another 10".

Multiple reasons, ergonomics for one, and for more viable soil. For tomatoes and stuff you want a good 18” deep bed of soil.

Lot easier to go up than to dig down, more roots more fruits, and the tighter I can pack the raised bed, keeps weeds down and retains more moisture as well.

This end looks tall, the back right end used to be only an inch or so out of the ground, so barely 8” of good soil before the clay. Yes it looks overkill on this end.

I’ve got a laundry list and gonna miss some.

Carrots, cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelons, cantaloupes, multiple lettuces, multiple tomatoes, multiple peppers. Carrots, radishes, trying parsnips, peas, maybe beans.

Brocolli and gourds don’t do well.

I also have 6 metal raised beds on their way, they are 4’x2’.

Edit also have sunflowers, turnips, rutabagas. Still need to see what HD has for established plants that pique my interest as well.

Arm length, 4’ is just barely reachable to get the center. You want to avoid putting weight anywhere on the soil while tending so you don’t compact the soil. That removes one benefit of using raised beds.

Layout a tape on the ground, see where you can reach and touch. If it’s raised off the ground you get a little bit extra reach so you can try and emulate that to find a comfortable size.

I would do like 36-42” if I made new ones, but I just went with some premade 4’x2’s since they worked with my other area.