The author of Sq. Ft Gardening used to do this, dunno if he went to all raised beds or not. In fact the photo on the cover of the book (the old one, not the new version) shows his in ground sq. ft. garden.

I have a veggy garden that is a raised 24'x24' area where I grow things more or less Sq Ft. style and it has worked well.

I am converting to individual framed, raised beds this fall though as I don't want any ground that isn't growing something. Too much time getting mulch and too wet in the spring to walk in even with mulch.

If you have clay soil you might want to skip the in ground beds because when you amend the growing soil so it is light, fluffy and drains well you can easily end up with swimming pools instead of a garden. At least that seems to be what happens in my yard.

I have borders around mime only cuz where its located I have a gentle slope and when we do get the hard seasonal rains it washes badly. With the borders I don't have that problem anymore. I orginally didn't have the borders, but quickly found out that here they are necessary. My seeds and amendments would wind up down in the woods or creek. trudyjean

The author of Sq. Ft Gardening used to do this, dunno if he went to all raised beds or not.

Yes. He did switch to raised beds.

Why? So you don't have to amend your existing soil any more. This is all you need:

* 1/3 Peat Moss - available at any garden center or supermarket.
* 1/3 Vermiculite - Buy the coarse grade in large 4 cubic-foot bags at any garden center.
* 1/3 Blended Compost - made from various sources, at least five.

Container Gardening Mix

Pictures of the results of the mix:
Examples Page 1
Examples Page 2
Examples Page 3
Examples Page 4
Examples Page 5

The reason is so you start out with an excellent growing medium that has no problems.

I do.
I simply placed my frames on the soil I used for my row garden. In fact the only real amendment I routinely use is leaves. Tho last year I did mix in a half bag of purchased composted manure for my heavy feeders and started using compost tea. Made by simply putting puchased composted manure in knee-high nylons (after I get done wearing them, of course ;-) and soaking in rain water. Seemed to stretch my manure, plus the plants seemed to like it.

If (like me) you don't wear knee-highs, simply go to the dollar store, 3 pair for a buck. Oh, also last year, I put a knee-high in a bucket I used in each bed for watering. So far this year I haven't had to water much because of the rain (but then the garden isn't growing either but I don't think I will be using the buckets in the beds.

I am thinking about trying the tea 'brewing' method (using MY compost) recommended by DCHall in the soil forum this year.
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/soil/msg0300105612497.html

Back to the topic....I do, I just find watering a challenge in SFG beds because of the close spacing.
Good Luck,
Gumby_CT

Here is a link that might be useful: Deep watering for heavy feeders