That battery will probably outlast the panel anyway, those old boards are tougher than people think.

and honestly that $150 could have gotten you some pretty decent cedar if you caught it on sale. i made the same mistake with one of those fabric grow bags that claimed to last forever, and the seams gave out in like two months just from the sun. now i just stick to galvanized steel troughs from tractor supply or build my own with untreated pine and line it with landscape fabric. the kit companies are betting on people not wanting to do the work, but they always cut corners on the hardware. that bowing you saw is exactly what happened to my neighbor's kit, the whole thing just sagged and dumped soil everywhere when it rained. lesson learned the hard way but at least now you know for next time.

Oh totally, bamboo stakes are a game changer for small spaces. I did the same on my 8x4 deck and my tomatoes went nuts, doubled what I got the year before for sure.

Nah @gavin_allen48 I'm on the other side here. Give me the one that doesn't explode in my hand any day, even if I gotta chuck the whole thing after.

My buddy Mike tried one for a month then sold it on Craigslist because he hated standing still.