Hi from St.George, Queensland. Australia.

St.George is in the Maranoa district in Queensland, 550km west of the capital Brisbane.  Our main business centre is Toowoomba, [the "Garden City"], which is almost 400 km to the east of St.George.

The climate here is very hot in summer, up to the low 40's C, and a mild winter rarely below Zero C.  We do not enjoy normal Spring and Autumn seasons as it very quickly turns from Summer to Winter and Winter back to Summer, with perhaps only a few weeks between.
Rainfall is unreliable as so much of the tree cover has been removed to accommodate broadacre farming.  Of course with no trees, there is precious little rain!  We are fortunate that the town sits beside the Balonne River, which is at the upper reaches of the Murray- Darling system which eventually flows through the irrigation areas of New South Wales, VIctoria and South Australia.
As a small boy my mother, who was an excellent gardener, encouraged me to help in the garden, and I did so willingly.
In my last years in primary school I grew and sold vegetables to the people in our area.  While I was in the garden I found that nothing bothered me.

Fast forward to today, finds me in my eighty-first year and back to gardening.   Suffice it to say that pressure of business confined my gardening to lawns, trees and shrubs.  Still very satisfying but, nothing to eat...

So I have just begun a raised garden project using 1000 litre chemical containers [scoured four times to cleanse them thoroughly], cut in half horizontally and filled with soil etc.
Very similar to the wicking bed concept, but without the water reservoir at the bottom.  My early efforts are very promising and when completed I will have 24 beds each 100cm long X 90cm wide X 60cm deep.  The bases raise the growing surface to around 750cm.  Great for my dodgy back.  My name is Keith.  Thank you for this opportunity to learn.

G'day Aussie88!  And welcome from Atlanta, GA (SE USA)!

Congratulations on getting back to your love of gardening.  We'll certainly give you all the help & encouragement we can!

We love pictures and to give (and receive) advice....

Welcome, Keith from Ohio, USA! So glad you have re-discovered your love of gardening, your mom is smiling

Sounds like you are off to a great start, have you planted anything yet? What is the season like there now? Where I am, we are heading into winter. Sounds like you will have an extended growing season in your locale.

Have you read Mel Bartholomew's books on Square Goot Gardening? It is a great place to start! And coming here, you (and we) will learn so much together!

Take some pictures if you can, so we can see what you have going!

Aussie88, Welcome to the Forum from California, USA! You should be getting ready for your summer garden. Your climate sounds similar to mine, 100*F + summers, bouncing around freezing in deep winter. There are veggies that grow nicely during the winter so it's year around gardening for me. During the heat of the summer, commercial sun shade really helps the crops to survive, and revive in the early fall. As far as dodgy backs, there are quite a few of us, and table height beds are great!