Wow just in time to upvote this post.´Following you too now, beautiful garden! How are the higher beds? I got some spine troubles so that might be a solution for me. I've seen people write about building them on straw, like planting their vegetables directly in straw. Ah yes, edit: You're some time ahead, we don't have the cabbage ready yet. I first looked if you're maybe down under but no, haha
The raised beds are mostly good but require upfront work obviously. The main problem for me is they dry out faster in the hot summer weather. Here is one of my early posts where I break it down:
https://steemit.com/garden/@garden-to-eat/flat-beds-or-raised-beds
Not sure about straw. I would think you would need some soil too. Maybe they pile up straw and soil on top or mixed in and raise the bed that way. Before I started building boxes I used straw between my beds to hold down weeds and then moved the straw into the beds at the end of the season. Mice love straw though.
Yes that's true, like they love compost heaps. We also have lots of rabbits. I've seen someone write (or blog) about it, they used just straw, that rectangular bound straw, and said it's enough and can use it as fertilizer afterwards. I think I'll try it in a corner next year, too late now.