Someone, please help! I am an amateur at vegetable gardening and would really, really appreciate some guidance ASAP. Thanks so much.

Because a raised bed drains well, it also dries out quickly. BUT a raised bed allows you to very easily control your soil mix....but unless you make it a very high ( 2 feet or more) bed you better make sure the soil mix is blended with the sub soil. Two of the best vegetable gardeners I know grow in raised beds...one in beds a foot high and the other in 2 1/2 foot high beds. Both gardens are only 2 feet wide and really ugly, don't contribute to the landscape. AND I also know many people who grow amazing things flat on the ground. Personally I wouldn't bother with a raised bed unless you are going to really seriously grow veggies, rotate the crops and plant repeat crops of successive plants. Your dog will be a dependable adult in the summer of 09 and you will still have the raised beds you are trying to keep watered. Linda C

tree trunks need air.. if buried.. they will rot and kill the tree ... they can NOT cope with constant moisture ... with me so far ... in contrast.. roots need near constant coolness and moisture .. which we call soil ... once 'established' ... they can take care of all that ... so ... take your blocks... make a 6 to 9 foot circle ... bring in top soil that nearly matches you native soil ... and plant the tree .. so the root/trunk interface is at the level of the second bricks ... we do NOT use potting media or foo foo soils for backfill, especially with trees ... regardless... it will need to be staked for a year.. to get some roots down.. until the soil settles ... if you have clay soil.. advise and i will change the method ... perhaps .... you would be better off.. getting native soil from behind the garage.. and using that.. than bringing in mismatching soil ... if you were wanting to put in a perennial garden.. you would be better off.. stealing the native soil for the tree.. and bringing in a good soil for that bed ... its getting a bit late for planting trees.. unless you have a warranty .... where are you ... ken

Oh wow... thanks everyone for all the generous feedbacks and input. I think I came to the right place. I am taking this project slow and plan to spend this Spring gathering knowledge and info ... and you guys are helping a lot. I'll probably start "breaking ground" this summer and hopefully have my first bed built by fall... with my first grow season in Spring of 2016. If I'm lucky enough, plant some cooler season variety before the end of this year. I'm also hoping to grow some seedlings inside later this year in prep for Spring 2016. I want to start small, but I want a "big picture" already drawn out so I can expand in phases and hopefully - if I'm lucky - full realize the full plan. At some point, I want to draw it all out and have an overall plan for this "addition" to the yard... and have it in a way that maintains, or even enhance, aesthetics of the yard. So though I want to start small, I'm gathering as much as I can so I can plan for the rest of the garden. I'll start off in one area and build from there in subsequent years following the plan. Again - thank you for all the responses. Skybird... I get the point of making sure to get all the weeds out of the lawn (where I will place the beds). I'll have to google it a bit to see what's the best way to exterminate weeds, including their roots once I clear the area of grass. I've got an area in the backyard that I think is a good candidate to be carved out for the garden. I haven't measured, but I'm pretty sure it gets at least 6 hours of sun. Mix in some of the topsoil into the subsoil - dully noted! Thanks for that tip! Dan... turfgrass rhizomes. I assume you mean rhizomes shooting under my bed walls and surfacing inside my bed. The plan I have is to have the garden completely sectioned off from the rest of the yard - fence, paths, and all. At the turf edge, I'll like install edging to keep the lawn at bay. My initial recon has gotten me some good ideas on how to install plastic sheeting as to extend my growing season - using PVC pipes as my wall support and hoops placed into the pipes, etc etc. I definitely plan on having plans for that. Maxin... Yes... irrigation will be a big factor in the plans. Based on what I've read and watched, drip systems seems to the the ideal and overhead irrigation is discouraged. I definitely have some specific questions around this topic, but I think I'll save them for another thread. But at this point, I think much of my initial leg work will be setting up the new irrigation lines, but also re-routing/displacing the existing lawn sprinkler heads. Anyway... I'll post my initial plans/layout soon and have you guys critic it. Lastly, I wanted to share a video I found in youtube where I'm getting a bunch of my initial information. It seems to be a video made in the 80's by a gardening author/expert name Jeff Ball - seems to know what he's talking about. 53 minutes long - he take the beginner from start to finish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO2CLU-O6mU