Obviously I can only make the raised bed to the height of the stone wall. Is 15 inches high enough?

I haven't decided whether to make the bed run the entire length of the wall--about 30 feet. And I don't know how wide to make it. I guess mainly I don't want to bite off more than I can chew. I'm a bit gun shy at the moment :-) Any suggestions about how long and wide it should be?

Also, there's lots of information about preparing the soil under and in the bed but that information seems to assume that you're just prepping over dirt. I couldn't find anything about soil prep when you have lawn growing where you want the bed to be. If I double dig the lawn area where I want the bed, won't the lawn ultimately just grow through the soil in the raised bed and give me problems later on?

I still don't know whether or not I'm going to do this. It may be more of a project that I have the time or the finances for. But answers to these questions will help me decide.

The $ has a lot to do with what many of us can do with our dreams and ideas.
I'm gonna toss an idea or two your way.

Instead of working the entire thirty feet, is what I'd go for in the long run, I'd start with what I can aford at the moment. Five feet, ten feet, etc.
Pick our your plants, so they compliment each other and your home/drive/yard.
You don't have to begin at one end or the other. Or the middle. Pick a spot that needs some work done now, so it blends in with the surrounding area. It's a small area, so you'll have to envision it piece by piece.

Possibly a soaker hose tpye water system too.
Some large rocks to accent the plants.

Just some thoughts.

Thanks for your input. good idea about the footage. I guess I don't have to run the bed the whole length of the wall to start off with. And I have numerous ideas for what to plant there--if I do it, I'd finally have a garden area that would be in full sun most of the day, which would mean I could plant all the things I've been fiending to plant that I can't currently, because most of my garden is partial shade!

This made me laugh--"Raised beds have a lot of advantages to ground level beds. The best one I can think of is; They are so much easier to work with since they are higher. Once you get older, you take stuff like this under consideration. Seriously. "

I AM "older"

You're a musician, right? Two of my boys have a band with a friend of theirs. They're in the process of making a CD of their songs. Hubby has a modest music studio in our basement. High end consumer grade equipment. He's a musician from forever ago! Many years ago he was a contracted staff writer with MCA, before that in a band that toured the south--regionally somewhat well known way back when. The *very* occasional southerner here has actually heard of them!

My boys write their own material, though the few times they've performed they've done a mix of their own plus covers--alternative/contemporary/oldies stuff.

That's cool you have a house full of musicans. Cool if you like music, that is.

Here is a link that your family may be interested in. I hang out there a lot and the place is full of very knowledgeable guys about mics, all kinds of recording hardware/software, Mixing, Mastering, Songwriting, an MP3 clinic so you can post your songs and have the recording and mixing critiqued by everyone.
I've been a member there for several years.
http://homerecording.com/bbs/

There is just under 20,000 members there, but not all of them are active.
If they need some free sites to post their music for reviews lemme know.

Thank you very much for the music/recording info, which I copied and sent to hubby and boys. Hopefully it will be helpful to them. I'll let you know if they want to check out those free sites you mentioned.

I really appreciate you thinking of us!

For some years before we got the downstairs studio/music room set up, Grayson, my 23 year old, practiced both drums and electric guitar in his room at night which happened to be right next to mine. I'd fall asleep with him either pounding on the drums, or with his guitar amped to the max! So it's a good thing I like music

Yeah, my folks put up with me playing. I started taking lessons when I was seven and was rocking in the house till I enlisted in the army at 17. They were really great about it though, I never heard them once, say, turn that down.

The only time I've ever had to tell the guys to turn down the music is when they were rehearsing (or jamming) late at night at the neighbors would complain. Luckily we only had neighbors on one side, and they, frankly, were unpleasant people. Actually it was just the husband, the wife was very nice, but very intimidated and controlled by her husband. He even shot one of my dogs with a bb gun once because it wandered into his yard! I had to be restrained from going over there with a baseball bat and beating the living s**t out of him!

Recently they moved. Now we have lovely neighbors who have two huge Rotts and a Mastiff who bark frequently, and they're coming to us to make sure we're not being disturbed--nice change! They don't mind at all about the music, says it doesn't bother them in the least and to play whenever we want.