Fort Knox, Raised Beds

My wife and I did alot of research before starting our home garden and kept hearing about rodent and critter damage. So we designed raised beds with lockdown after dark. Redwood would have been nice but Pine is cheaper and if you use a little prep, it will withstand pretty good as we're into our second year crop and no signs of errosion. They say 18" high is best, so I used 2x10 which is 9 1/4, so we achieved our 18". Just lag bolted together with corner post,(tall in the back to mount the cage hinge point) and then a little top board to give an edge. We lined the inside and bottom with weed guard cloth. We didn't use chicken wire on bottom as no gopher could burrow thru Mira Mesa dirt. Then 1x2 frame work with poultry fencing stappled on. We coated the outside with water sealer.  We had been making compost for a year both in a tumbler and dry bin. We used Mushroom compost with good top soil from Escondido, Then after testing the soil added, Chicken poop, Gypsum, sulfur, worm castings and our own compost. The first year we over planted but it was our first time. Tomatoes and Herbs were in separate planters and they go eaten pretty bad, but we didn't loose one vegetable in Fort Knox.