It's a bad idea to put a raised bed next to the fence. It would be better to leave a gap (of at least 12" .... which is still not ideal) or reset the fence atop the bed. Is there not an alternative location where the bed can exist without being in conflict with the fence?

Another one that thinks it's a bad idea. Can you tell us why you want to place against fence?

If I were going to place a raised bed in this location (would not a ground level bed or even a low berm work as well??), I would not use wood on the back, fence side but line it with the concrete blocks as well. The wood will deteriorate fairly rapidly under any sort of routine growing conditions and then you have the sloughing off or migration of the soil through the fence to deal with.

Can you post photos of the situation? Maybe we could offer some alternative suggestions if we could see what you are dealing with.

Why do you think it's a bad idea?

I want it against the fence because I like the look of having the bed there to frame my yard. I think having a gap in between would look weird. I don't want to deal with mowing and trimming both sides of the bed. I also don't want to have to install 120' of retaining wall blocks instead of 60'.

How wide would the bed be, how far up the fence do you plan to have the soil, and what is on the other side of the fence? I have beds running along chain link fences on three sides of the yard - about 300' or so in all. In a few places the soil in the beds covers the bottom 6" or so of the fence (sod removed to make the bed - and nearby beds - was piled along the fence and left to rot down.) The neighbours have garden beds along the fence too in those areas and the two gardens merge happily there. I wouldn't want to try to put deep soil against the fence though - at the very least it would dry out too easily.

Another vote that this isn't a good idea for the various reasons sited above. Without photos, I'd suggest the in-ground beds, but photos would really help you get some design suggestions. If you are determined to do the raised beds, the back could be done with cinder block instead of ornamental block to be less expensive and then parged with a layer of stucco or planted so that plants drape down the side or a combo of both strategies. Access between the fence and bed is important because things will grow there, even in tiny gaps, so you need access to remove them. A gap large enough to walk in, heavily mulched, will give you access for removing things that try to grow through the fence and to get to the back of the bed for planting or maintenance in the bed, but the heavy mulch walkway will need little maintenance and as Yardvaark suggested, won't be visible once the bed is planted. A bed narrow enough to reach across only from the front won't be aesthetically pleasing - it will be too narrow to look right and only have room for one row of plants, which also won't look right. A few advantages of in-ground beds is that they are less expensive to install, easier to keep moist, and are easier to change if you decide later that you want to enlarge them or change shape, etc.

I have a few 4x8' (wood) raised beds up against a chain link fence and have for quite a few years now. There is no gap between the beds and the fence. Nothing grows between the fence and the beds, there is no damage to the fence (even though I use it to trellis snow peas in the Spring and tomatoes in the Summer.) I can reach across the beds just fine- I never walk in them.

We will be adding at least 3 more over the winter for Spring planting. I'll have to come up with something else in a few years when we relandscape and replace all the fencing but for now it works so well and looks just fine that we're going to stick with it as long as we can.

Do what works for you.

I have the same question and I'm not able to plant at ground level because I'm kn the Hill Country and it's nothing but rock. I would like to put a bed in front of our ranch style fence.