Hello!
Im a 17 year old who lives in a community neighborhood. When i say community i mean cookie cutter houses squished together. Our backyard is honestly awful. When we moves in the owner did an awful job fixing up the backyard. Against the side of the house wall is a brick raised bed. Inside contains lots of gravel, LOTS of ants, spiders, any pest you could name. There is grass growing all inside of it and some old spikey vines are left over too (small but stubborn). I was thinking of completley taking everuthing out and just adding new soil for an herb garden! My greenhouse at school has my herbs already growing insidr of it so i just need to take them home. My concern is when i take everything out, the ants and spiders will come back and kill everything. Can someone tell me how i can fix this raised bed? I know almost nothing about raised beds and fixing them up.
Thank you!

Before starting, figure out, does this get sun all day, morning, evening, which way does it face? What part of washington? Is it hot and dry there or rainy? This will tell what you can grow and how to maintain it.

You'll probably be taking out a lot of the gravel. Maybe it's just a layer on top they tried to 'mulch' with? Get gloves on and pull out the vines and grass.
You will add compost or garden soil to refill.
Ant and spiders are not particularly interested in your plants. I think they just like the rocky terrain.

Another option would be to clean it all out. Then you could grow your herbs in pots and just set the pots inside the brick wall. This would probably require more frequent watering but you would be able to reposition your herbs if some get taller and bushier than others.