You can also watch Craigslist & Freecycle (if they're active in your area) for someone giving away used lumber. I've built all my beds with free used lumber. They may not be as pretty as some and won't last as long as others but they're in the side yard (somewhat hidden from street view) and the price was right :-)

This photo is during my expansion project last year. There are a few more beds that aren't shown (click to enlarge). {{gwi:36574}}From Tales of a Transplanted Gardener

You can find free pallets on Craigslist all the time in our area. The wood in those pallets could easily be used to build raised beds. I am breaking some down and then using the wood from some to make a bed for my potatoes.

You can also use old fence boards if that's what you can find. The 1" thickness is not ideal and I wouldn't build a very tall bed with them but they could work in a pinch. That's what my potato bin is built from (with some scavenged 2x4s). I also used them around my blackberries. That's not really a raised bed but it marks the area and keeps the mulch contained.

Thank you for the information and of course free is great. We are warming to the idea of using beds that are curved and do not have right angles (I know Mel, I hope you don't read this).

So, has anyone done raised, berm like beds and had reasonable success?

I have had success just trenching out a four inch border all around and piling everything else I need on top, slanting it away from the trench, making sure I water as I pile. There will be some slippage, but you might think carefully about what you could plant on the outside that would mat and still be edible, e.g., creeping thyme and things like that. We wouldn't have any thing in boxes except my husband loves to go to the hardware store! Can't resist buying up a storm and hammering nails. I go and collect bamboo and trim it for stakes and fencing; he's all for buying whatever the hardware store suggests, e.g., PVC stakes!

This is just an idea - using straw bales for your border. Don't know if you have access to straw nearby, but it's worth a look. Totally natural, cheaper, and more flexible than using wood.

Good Luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: azhomesolutions - straw bale border

you can buy boxes at some local nurserys. I built my own. Free is great but sometimes with everything.. there is a startup cost. Which hopefully with a couple years under your belt you'll start to be in the black instead of the red. I think gardening does pay off eventually and you'll appreciate the harvests.

I am just finishing the book by Steve Solomon, Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times. This book might be exactly what you need. His premise is how to help someone take lawn or bare ground and turn it into a garden quickly and with the least expense. He suggests not using anything around the edges because it impedes your ability to weed, etc.

Get this book! I too have a large family and am so very glad to have found this book.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times