raised beds

raised beds are way more popular than I would think they would be,

from what I can tell they were traditionally used for 2 reasons,
one was for areas where the ground freezes hard,
so in spring the raised area defrosted faster so you get some vegetables earlier,
the other reason was in very wet areas,
being over ground level they have great drainage

but lately it seem like many people because they saw it in a book,
or "it is just the right thing to do"
it is not like they are going to hurt anything if you are not using one of it's advantages,
but you sure can't scale them easy at all,
I have also seen people use them where the local soil is all rock or concrete,
and they work great for that,
or some people put wire mesh under them so that gophers can't get in (but often they leave off the metal flashing on the sides that will keep them from climbing in),
so I am not saying that they don't have some good uses,
just that many many people spent lots of money on them when they are not getting anything out of it at all.
it can help if you figure out why you are doing what you are doing

and at least someone takes the time to smell the weeds