Sunken garden beds

(Strawberries started producing in the garden)

Ive been looking at sunken gardens, which are particularly apposite for hot places that have problems keeping moisture. Seems that it would work for Australia well.

Here's a comparison to raised beds:

http://www.change-making.com/raised-beds-vs-sunken-beds/

An intelligent outline of the case for it -

http://learningtogardenalloveragain.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/waffle-gardens.html

An easy how-to:

http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/8490/the-roots-of-square-foot-gardening

Here's a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y-GvNbzA_o

The extreme form seems to be Anasazi gardening, which is described as 'waffle' gardening, because of the holes in the ground alternating, which is like a waffle-iron.

http://www.learn2grow.com/gardeningguides/watering/application/SaveWaterOldFashioned.aspx

Some pictures of zuni gardens from before WWII -

http://enclosuretakerefuge.com/tag/waffle-garden/