hiya, director, welcome to the site, lots of lovely people on here, your post might be better in basics, more people will read it in there,
we have raised beds, more because the soli was waterlogged and I have mobility problems, we just laid the paths with cardboard, then weed control fabric, then wood chip to start with
then my oh built beds, ours are 12 to 18" high :o
he put card on the bottom then loaded it with as much soil etc as he could, lo and behold, very raised beds,
some people just mound the soil from their paths on to the bed , some build sides, whichever way you do it, happy digging :)
also, cover everything you do clear so the weeds stay away, just work on a bit at a time, little and often ;D
by the way, if you go into our gallery, you will be able to see some of our raised beds ;D