So the garden is all laid out....on graph paper. The site is just a hillside that had all sorts of grasses growing and i mowed it and rototilled it last fall. I hate the rototiller....I was going to build all these raised beds and then have to find the materials to fill them and the time to actually build them. Oy Vey

Then I just finished "weedless gardening" by Lee Reich and now I dont want to build or till or anything. I had a few yards of "organic topsoil" delivered last fall just begging me to use. Supposedly contains native topsoil, compst and sand.

so now the plan is to lay out newspaper and top it with the organic topsoil stuff. i have about 600 square ft of "planting bed" space to cover. I should get good coverage. Then the lanscaper/tree service promised a truckload of woodchips. so that will be my cover mulch.

my questions are

should i border these beds somehow or can i just do it on the ground? probably a 15 degree slope, will i be fighting an uphill battle? rows will be planted across the slope, not up and down.

i have a ton of the red cedar mulch that I plan on using for the paths? is the ceder a problem? (insect repellant?)

am i gonna be happy?