"SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas wrote in message

We are ready to till up our garden, and want to raise it in beds or
platforms so us old people don't have to bend over so much. Is it
practical to raise them to desk level, or is just a foot or two
sufficient? I would think that whatever you made the raised bed from
would rot from water and gook within a few years. And then, if you use
cinderblock or cement, you're talking high cost and a lot of skilled
labor.

It's very practical to use waist high beds and they are becoming
increasingly popular.

You don't mention where you live but you may be interested in seeing the
following:
http://www.knudsentanks.com.au/links.htm

I've seen these in use at a number of Open Gardens and been very impressed
with the way they grew vegetables and flowers and allowed very elderly
gardeners to continue to garden long after they had trouble bending down.
I've seem then with plastic over to make mini greenhouses and bird netting
over, and just left as beds. Very, very impressive and I want a number of
them but have only recently managed to find them.