In ground or raised bed?

To be or not to be, that is the question.  OK the real question is in ground garden beds or raised beds.  Which is better?  It depends on you and the conditions where you live.

Both of these pictures are of my garden.  With the addition of the proper soil amendments my garden grew great in ground.  After Hurricane Ike left me with plenty of wood to work with I made raised beds out of it.  It took some effort to build (not much) and effort to haul garden soil (much more), but my garden is much more contained.  This old back of mine finds it lots easier to weed and harvest too.  These beds can be made out of a variety of materials.  These beds are made out of three inch by six foot cedar fencing.  This is a good rot resistant material and easy to work with.  You can also use cypress and TREX a plastic decking material.  These beds are very easy to work with a small garden cultivator.
  

The in ground garden is very easy to work with a small cultivator or a larger tiller too if you have a large plot.  I borrowed a large tiller to break the ground and till in the soil amendments initially.  No woodworking (minimal) skills are needed and you can easily change your layout year to year or season to season if you are blessed with multiple growing times like here in SE Texas.  About the only real problem with in ground growing is if you have really rocky, hard, clay, or other bad soil. 

As long as you have decent soil to work with its really not a big deal.  If you are new to gardening start out in ground like I did.  As you expand and learn more upgrade to a better layout and build more permanent raised beds.  You can buy your materials cheaper in the off season and pre-assemble your beds if they are not to big.  When the next season hits you are ready to go.