Filling the holes in the cinderblock with soil is a good idea. Use those individual squares for planting things like garlic (1 clove in each square) or basil.

Not sure which way the sun is coming from, but I notice the tall corn will shade out the tomatoes and cabbage. If the sun is coming from the other direction, will the plants beside your house be shaded?

Also, the pumpkins might be moved over to the spots right next to the edge, let the vines trail over the edge. From my experience those vines, even if left in the spot in your design, will still need more space and will trail ove rthe edge anyway. They really do take up more room than most people plan for.

Also, isn't a cinderblock 16 inches? You are showing 4 blocks across...that's more than 5 feet across. That's going to be REALLY difficult to reach across without stepping on the raised bed. My last beds were 4 feet across (usually recommended) and I was having just a wee bit of a problem stretching across to work from either side. I guess my reach is just a couple inches short of 2 feet to comfortably work in the middle of the bed. This year we have bought a new house and I am rebuilding the beds. Hubby is making them 3 feet across for me instead... perfectly comfortable reaching distance.

Oh that's not by any means where I plan to plant my plants, I was just trying to fill out the beds with various plants. Most of those plants aren't even really vegetable/herb plants just random models I grabbed and re purposed.

The dimensions on the cinder blocks that I found were just under 16 inches. I was trying to get right at 4 feet across on the inside of the bed. I didn't take into account the block itself, so thanks I'll need to correct for that. It is true that it went a few inches over what was intended anyways (which adds to the problem posed by measuring the inside rather than the outside) as the blocks didn't measure up perfectly for my needs. I was going to address that when it got closer to finalizing things.

The driveway is on the east side of the property, back of my house faces south.

Well, if you mean to sit on the blocks to garden, it might still be a bit of a reach. But if you fill the cinderblock holes with soil and use them to plant in, then you will have to reach over those plants as well.

I just find when I have to spend any amount of time reaching into the middle, it's a bit much. A quick reach is fine, but pruning, harvesting or weeding the middle of the garden is a lot of stretching.

Yeah I'll have to do something about that, I have a back that's over twice my age. The awkward stretch bend dance I'm imagining just screams that I'll end up pulling something every time I have to go deeper in to the center.

Have the blocks delivered if you buy them from a big-box store such as Home Depot or Lowe's. That way you don't have to load OR unload them. Good luck!!
P.S. -- that's alot of soil you're gonna' need!!!!

Just be mindfull that the block will interfear with your soil ph as it leaches over time. Some people line it with a heavy grade plastic to avoid this. I certainly wouldn't recommend planting in the holes, apart from that it looks great, very similar to my set up, which just gets bigger every year :-)

Dan

Just a comment as someone who lives a bit southerly, a bit of shade on the tomatoes when they are flowering and producing can be helpful. The pollen is inactive at high temperatures and some shade helps keep the temperatures down as it gets hot out. The guy who lived here before us would always plant tomatoes on the east side of his house and there were some very nice tomato plants and tomatoes when we moved in. Go out now and pay attention at morning, midday, and afternoon where the sun and shadows are, this is roughly where they will be at the end of March (spring solistice), when I suspect you will be in full swing of planting. Sun and shade will be a primary factor in determining what you can grow where. I think you will be fine, but your storage shed is going to cast some shade on a couple of beds, I think. Hard to tell without standing there! Cheers!

Here's a link to a thread about growing in cinder blocks, just in case Jon Hughes doesn't see this thread. His raised beds are an inspiration to anyone looking to build raised beds.

Here is a link that might be useful: growing in cinder blocks thread

which way is north?
you will need to take this into account as not to block sunlight from shorter veggies, by planting taller veggies
to the south and west of the garden.

Actually you want to plant the shorter vegetables south/west as that is that path of the sun. Plant the taller ones behind them. It doesn't matter much for the summer garden because the sun is so high in the sky but it will help for a fall garden.

I build raised cinder block beds this spring, and I was so happy that I used landscaping glue to "cement" the blocks together. Of course, I used 4" wide blocks instead of 8" wide. Wider blocks might not need the extra stability. Don't worry, the dried glue is not water soluble, it won't leach into soil.

3 blocks wide is perfect, the middle can still sometimes be hard to reach if plants are spilling over the side. (My two Sungold tomato plants completely took over one 3 block x 3 block bed, and sprawled out on 3 sides. They looked so small and innocent this spring...)

I don't worry too much about the pH, most veggies are pretty tolerant. I'm a chemist, so I looked into it before building with cement blocks. You'll need to add compost every year anyway, to keep the nutrients up in your high density gardening.

Also, lots of people plant onions in the holes. The holes dry out very quickly though, so you need to be careful what you plant there. I went with solid blocks for the top row, so I could sit comfortably, and it looks nice.

I went 2 blocks tall, which is plenty deep enough for the veggies. However, rabbits can still jump up into them easily. I've fenced my whole garden, since I don't want to add a third row of blocks and buy more soil. Three blocks tall is quite a comfortable working height, though.

Good luck, lovely plan!