Roy came up with the idea for our new garden box out of a need for shade on the house. After considering several ideas, he decided a semi-temporary planter, built up against the deck, would be a good place for planting something fast growing for shade. He used slabs from a sweet gum tree, that were already sawn to 6″, for the sides.We have access to a pile of soft sedimentary rock 
that we used to build the ground up level before we laid the slabs, and we used scrap boards for bracing.
The
finished planter cost us nothing and is big enough to even grow tomatoes, but we realized we needed alot of dirt. So, we filled the bottom with mulch, then finished filling it up with composted horse manure, leaves, and grass clippings.
It is now planted with peas, onions, and lettuce. We will replace these with beans and tomatoes for a shady summer crop.
The site looks really good, Susan. I can tell you worked hard on it. Just a thought, consider putting up how to do other projects and crafts that you guys know about (i.e. caining chairs, building and using a forge, etc.) But I’m very impressed.