Two observations after having spent much of last weekend gardening:

• My body is shit.  I need to get more exercise.
• I don’t know how I managed to get by all these years without a soil knife.  It is one incredibly useful tool.  How did I ever make do with just a trowel?

UPDATE:  The weekend’s major project was to build two raised garden beds.  My wife spend a good chunk of time over the winter researching options and settled on a 4 ft x 8 ft design.  The Sunset design was a good template but we made a few changes when it came time to build.  Specific changes:

1. We used single 2×10 planks rather than stacked 2×6’s
2. Used 1-5/8 x 1-5/8 corner posts rather than 4×4’s
3. Used #12 wood screws rather than #14.
4. No wire mesh liner.  (Not necessary.)
5. We didn’t attach the 1-in PVC pipe sections to the inside (the ones to hold hoops)

Materials for two beds:

• Two 12-ft 2×10 spruce planks ($16 ea)
• One 8-ft 1-5/8 x 1-5/8 pine ballister post.  Cut it into eight 1-ft sections for corner posts. ($10-ish.  I don’t recall exactly how much.)
• Box of 100 3-in #12 wood screws.  Steel.  ($17-ish.  Brass would have been about $75.)
• Two cubic yards of compost.  ($35/yd plus $20 delivery charge)
• One 30-ish lb bag of partially-composted chicken manure.  ($5)
• One gallon of Seal-Once waterproofer.  Chosen because it’s non-toxic. ($60/gallon)

Total cost approximately $210 for two finished beds.   I figure we’ll get at least five years out of the wood.  (We have a friend who used untreated wood for hers and they’re fine after four years.)  Provided we do, that seems like a very modest investment.