I have raised beds (only about 6-8") due to gophers.
I kinda wish I had made them sitting height, but they were built almost 15 yeqrs ago (when I had a good back!)
I also have 3 raised up beds that I bought from my neighbors who moved to Hawaii a couple of years ago.They are 3'x8'x12" deep.
With the regular raised beds we forked down as deep as we could, topped with composted horse manure, watered that in as best we could, built the beds with the hardware cloth, watered in some more! Added quality soil (from different places for each bed, as they were built at different times)
With the raised beds, I make my compost and turn it under with my 1950's mini tiller. It turns everything in to about 4" and also makes the beds quite pretty!
I'm also actually able to "till" the raised up beds with my little mini tiller, but I usually have to stand on a stool so I don't hurt my shoulders! LOL! Actually, I can usually hand dig easily once the raised up beds have been tilled.
I don't think a mantis would be able to accomplish this.....too heavy.
I have also used an auger type thing that attaches to a drill that takes care of smaller areas quite nicely!
Just a couple of ideas. Nancy

I've used a mantis to till material into raised beds, and my shoulders are pitiful

I use a combination of raised beds, lasagne beds, and straight beds in my garden. As time goes along, I will be adding in more raised beds.

Right now I have three 12 inch deep raised beds, two 3x6 and one 4x6 that I use for growing garlic in SQF method. And I would say it is 100% worth it. They are nice looking, clearly defined in the garden, and super easy to maintain. I use a garden weasel garden claw to till them up. As I build more raised beds, I will be using them for other root crops, and probably for cole crops too since I want to grow all those in SQF or semi SQF style, and raised beds make it easy.

Do I think raised beds are just as great for say squash or tomatoes? I don't know for sure, I use my lasagne beds and straight beds for those. Because they are such space suckers, I don't think it would be as worth it to do them in raised beds at this time. For me it isn't as worth it to have a squash or two sprawling over a raised bed when I can just add more layers onto a lasagne bed instead and let them sprawl away.

In other parts of my yard, I have sort of raised landscaped beds- areas that are bound in by wall pavers. Those are slowly but surely getting filled with flowers and herbs, and they are super nice for my elderly mother. She can sit on the wall side and weed to her hearts content, something she loves to do. And because it's a seat instead of on the ground, it's easier on her knees and general stability. So there I think the raised beds are totally worth it too. In yet other parts of my yard I'm putting in huge flower and herb borders, and it's just easier not to have to build the raised bed action for them, plus it makes it easier to edge up to them with the mowers if they don't have walls.

So I think it depends on what you are planting, where you are planting it, and what your gardening plans are. But for me at least, raised beds can be totally worth it and totally not worth it depending on the application.

ltilton- I was talking about the beds that were way up above ground . The Raised beds that are in ground are fine with the little tiller and I'm sure the Mantis. Hope I didn't confuse! Nancy

Most raised beds I have seen attempted result in failure. Primarily because people think they look nice,go into it thinking they can plant an abundance of items using "square foot gardening" methods that they learned about on the internet, But then end up over crowding with plants, Everything grows together, and the gardener looses control of the plot. Then discouragement follows.

Jonagold- I did make that mistake when I first planted herbs in a raised bed (I'm still trying to get rid of lemon verbena 10 years later!) Each of those cute little plants got HUGE and I didn't know one from another at the time! The labels got swallowed by the plants!
I now know that a 4x8 raised bed is good for 5 tomato plants. a green bean bed, a dozen pepper and eggplant, and 1 each of a couple squash (NOT ALL of these, but per bed!) My herbs went back to containers, but 'm re-doing my herb bed to include SOME in ground and some containers. Nancy

Hi GigietDidi ,
Just so I don't have to repost all the pics, you can go to a current thread about raised beds (I'll post a link at the end)...... all of mine are still doing great, and unlike Jonagolds experience with others raised beds, mine are doing great,I have 1379 square feet of beds and I am currently up to donating over 12000 lbs of fresh vegetables to our local Food Bank each year and I don't stop at "square foot gardening" but am constantly pushing the threshold of "Biodynamic-French Intensive" (every square inch)... my beds totally rock.....you can see some pics at
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cornucop/msg0416480222824.html?44

Here is a link that might be useful: Raised Beds

What a ham...is right... Hilarious, and you waved to boot... That's great !!!!

I live right near downtown atlanta and use raised beds. There is a couple of reasons. First, I have very limited space so tilling up earth right next my house's foundation is probably not the best idea. Secondly, when I have tilled up the earth around my house I have come across quite a bit of glass and brick fragments. I will say it costs a bit more upfront, but at least I don't have to weed my garden or till it each year. I just turn leaves and compost into each year and Im done.

Pros:
produce more per square foot
warm up faster
get you above bad clay soil
look really nice

Cons:
expensive
more soil and amendments to haul in
dry out faster

I recommend just permanent beds and permanent paths but they don't have to be raised unless you have really bad clay soil.

I'm just a beginner, just started gardening less than a year ago...

I started with a 4x4x18" bed, really like it. Not hard to dig/till at all. I'm building a 4x6x18" in these couple of weeks. I'm limited to 6' lumber because that's how long my husband's car could hold when he hauls the lumber from the store to our house. I wouldn't go over 4' on one end because it would be harder to take care of the plants for me.

I like the height of 18", I dug down probably an inch or so just to level the ground before I put down my raised bed. We have limestone here very close to the surface, so without a raised bed, it's kinda hard to plant any veggies here.

I'm not quite sure what soil they sold me at the local organic gardening store, but the soil does not dry out fast at all, it keeps moisture pretty well. I only had to water once a week last year, but I guess it also depends on what you're planting. My friend who plants directly on the ground has to water 3 times a day she tells me. Not sure what soil she's using either.

Disagree with a lot of the above Interesting comments:

"I don't have to weed my garden or till it each year"

Please understand. You DO need to keep the soil tilled, You DO need to hoe and keep the soil tilth. If you don't you WILL be growing more weeds that you can imagine.

Some additional comments that I do not agree:
"produce more per square foot" (How does a raised produce more per square foot) There is a strong tendency to plant more plants per square foot but this means overcrowding which ends with smaller plants and reduced production (and sometimes none)

"warm up faster" (the same characteristic that makes them dry out faster... especially in mid summer. and you need to water, water, water) The early jump you get from them warming up faster isnt really much of an advantage overall.

"get you above bad clay soil" Clay soil is awesome. It holds moisture, and nutrients. If it is tool heavy of clay, spend one season preparing it with lots of organic material. You will learn to love it.

look really nice. Yes they can. but most I have seen look embarrassing by mid to late summer,

Cons:
expensive - Yup

more soil and amendments to haul in - Yup. not too mention the additional costs, already mentioned

dry out faster. Yup. weeds like it dry and hot. You will be certain to accomplish this.

Well.... Jonagold certainly woke up on the wrong side of the bed ;-)
As I said "You can't argue with success", Jonagold is certainly trying to......
There is room for everybody at this table.... but I don't know anyone who is able to produce as much as my raised beds do....not even aquaponics.......
As I said , I have 1397 square feet of Raised Beds (mostly 2 feet tall), and yearly, I produce over 12000 lbs of Fresh Vegetables , that I donate to our local Food Bank, who distributes it the less fortunate in and around our little town (Grants Pass Oregon).
If you were to copy my system, you could do the same , where you live, I have videos on Youtube that shows step by step, how to build them.....
Here are a couple of pics that show my garden before the season and during the season, it isn't called "overcrowding" as Jonagold says.... it is called Biodynamic/French Intensive, and it is literally planting every square inch, and every single plant thrives.......In one of the pics you can see me standing next to some of my Tomato plants , they are over 10 feet tall, in cages and planted 10 plants in a 4'x 12' bed, these are all absolutely pumping out tomatoes...some over 2 lbs each....absolutely incredible.....
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Here is a link that might be useful: #3 (see all nine)

Jonagold, I’ve been growing in raised beds for over 15 years at least. I don’t have to weed my beds because I mulch heavily. I till my soil when I begin a new raised bed, but unless I am working in a cover crop, I rarely touch my pitch fork. I don’t even own a hoe. Mulch. Have you ever read the book, ‘The No Work Garden Book’ by Ruth Stout? Published in 1971, it’s been around for years. My organic gardening was heavily influenced by her book, way back in the 1980s and has worked for me since then.

jonhughes -- really nice to see you back here with your mind boggling numbers :)

We put in an elevated raised bed for a salad garden last summer -- it's 2x8 and 30" tall, with a false floor 10" down from the top (cedar slats & landscape fabric on steel brackets). (The two boxes at the ends are 2x2 and 15" tall, no false bottom.) It looks good and it's easy for people with bad knees (i.e., me!).