I have several piles of them in the woods, rotting away and decided to use some last year for this purpose. This is by no means a permanent solution because they will eventually rot totally away and need replacement. Depending on the wood species, logs will last from three to five years or so before they really start to fall apart. Pine (Pinus spp.) is good for about three years and a hardwood, like black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), can last for more than five years.
Again, sink your logs into grade a bit to keep your mix in the bed and to keep them from rolling. If you use logs and want to make your bed more than one log high, treat them like stones; batter them back into the bed and pack any gaps with small stones and earth.
If you've got a bank you want to level off, you can also use stacked logs, end out. I did this, rather in desperation, last fall and it's not half bad. I've planted the joints with various ivies in the hopes that by the time the logs rot, the ivy roots will hold the bank. Time will tell on this one.
You need to either taper your stack at the ends or pound in stakes to hold the logs in place. Fill the joints with earth or stones to keep the soil from draining through. Sink the bottom layer a few inches into grade to help stabilize everything. I cut the logs for this job into eighteen inch to two foot (0.45 - 0.6 m) lengths because, as it's about three and a half feet tall (1.06 m), I didn't think the stack would be stable otherwise. It came through winter in fine shape.
Stone and Masonry
Block
At the bottom of the aesthetic ladder of materials is the good old concrete block, actually called a concrete masonry unit or CMU in the industry. These are relatively inexpensive as masonry materials go, and come in various sizes; light weight or solid. I've built many a veggie bed or temporary bed by just lining them up and driving stakes through the holes into the ground to hold them in place. Not beautiful, but functional. Plain block can be dressed up with a stucco finish and a flagstone or tile cap, but it will need to be mortared in place so it doesn't move and crack the finish.
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