Many years ago, we tried out square foot gardening for a few seasons. We were in our forties at the time, and already found it awkward to lean two feet over into the middle to weed. Eventually, my husband built them longer and narrower, but we still had to get down on our knees to plant, weed, and harvest. We gave up on that several years ago, when the wooden frames began to break down.

Last summer I invested in one large metal stock tank, just to see how it worked out. It's about three feet tall, so no bending over to speak of. But it was expensive, and I am reluctant to invest in any more. How many more years will we be seriously gardening, anyway? Five? Ten? Is it worth spending a few hundred dollars on more stock tanks? I don't think so. My husband is no longer capable of building them out of wood, and the ready-made (or kits) wooden ones are also quite expensive. It's a tough decision. But my knees are loudly reminding me they don't want to be crawling around in the dirt all summer.