As one who changed from a field-type vegetable garden to raised beds, I strongly recommend others do the same.

Raised beds have a number of advantages:

1.The plants are higher and easier to reach.
2.Likewise the undesirable plants (weeds) are easier to reach.
3.Raised beds warm up faster in the spring (soil temperature is more important than air temperature to many plants).
4. It is easier to amend soil in raised beds. Likewise for watering.
5. You can make raised beds any length you want. The width is usually no more than four feet so you can reach the middle from either side. The height can be anything you wish. I have seen raised beds of wheelchair height.
6. Having raised beds means you do not have to walk on the planting soil, thus compacting it.
7.You do not need heavy-duty tilling tools. In fact there is more and more evidence that heavy tilling, by hand or machine, destroys the soil structure and harms the tiny critters that amend the soil naturally.

The most frequently asked question is what do you use for edging a raised bed?

Pressure treated lumber will last but many gardeners prefer not to use it even in its new, more benign formulation (arsenic-based materials are no longer used in PT wood that is commonly available to homeowners)

Ordinary dimension lumber (2 by 10s 2 by 12s etc. made of hem/fir, pine etc) can be used but it will rot out in 10 years or less. If you don't mind replacing it, this is the most economical way.

At the Master Gardener Veggie Demonstration Garden on the main URI campus, we have three types of raised beds that will last a long time.

Several of them are made of Trex (a composite material that is designed for decks. It is made of wood fibers combined with recycled plastic). Trex (there are other brand names sush as Choicedeck) lasts but it has very little lateral strength and thus you have to build in vertical supports every four or five feet.

There is one bed there made of cedar. Liberty Cedar of West Kingston donated these boards which seem to be holding up well. Cedar is more expensive than PT or regular lumber and can be more expensive than Trex

Finally there is a bed made of PlasticLumber donated by PlasticLumberRI.This is a solid plastic material (all recycled stuff) which has multiple uses such as decks, bleachers, docks. Since it is solid plastic it does not get mildew (as some composite materials will) and seems to have superior lateral strength. It is also the most expensive but will last indefinitely.

This garden is located off East Alumni Avenue which is off Upper College Road. The garden is enclosed in a picket fence adjacent to the College of the Environment and Life Sciences Outreach Center (formerly the URI Cooperative Extension and Education Center).

A final note: Don't overlook materials that Mother Nature provides. If you have a lot of rocks (who in RI doesn't) use rocks to make the walls of a raised garden. They heat up during the day and give off heat at night. They look the most natural and of course they will never rot and the price is right!