1) I laid some plastic and 4x4s on the ground for a couple of days before I started to stain the 2" high, 12" wide and 8' long boards.

2) After the boards dried, I put some black weed blocker on top of the plastic before adding the dirt.

3) Here's how much six of the twenty bags of dirt I bought filled up the raised bed.

4) I'd already bought some composted cow manure and added four bags of that to the raised bed.

5) The finished product to date. I'll need probably at least 20 more bags to fill up the bed. Twenty of those bags of dirt only covered up the 4x4s.