I second Mandolls method, and the corner stake idea to aid in leveling sounds like a great idea. When you have a single bed by itself, it looks just fine if it's a little out of level. But in my opinion, as soon as you start placing several beds together, it starts to look a little sloppy if they're all at different heights and degrees of level... simply because your eye can easily compare one bed to the next. Along those lines... it's all about what pleases your eye, and just "eyeballing the degree of level is fine. If level is very important, it's easy enough to use a level to aid you. Start by laying the beds in the location they're going to live. Once you've kicked them around into an arrangement that suits you, start at the highest point of your slope and level out from that point. You'll basically be lifting the down slope edges of the beds until the level looks right. Eyeball across adjacent beds to align them and put some sort of shim under them to hold them at the appropriate height. (Or utilize Mandolls stake technique) Once you've tweaked everything to a point that it pleases your eye, you should have created a series of wedge shaped gaps under your bed walls. Measure the height of the gaps at each end, transfer them to a board, draw a straight line between them, and cut the "wedges" preferably with a circular saw. Nail/screw these tapered pieces to the underside of your beds and you'll have a neat, organized looking arrangement of level beds for years to come. Having said all of that... If the gaps are only a couple of inches, you could simply shim them up with a brick or a small rock rather than taking time to do some carpentry! I apologize if I oversimplified the instructions not knowing your skill level. Best of luck!

md, I agree with your experience of store-bought apples, which have been chemically thinned and irrigated. I would also point out that it's a rare store-bought apple that can compare with a well grown apple that has been picked at perfection and properly stored. Many get better after a week or two in a cool basement. Apple trees work really hard. By thinning them, you give them a fairer chance at a long, productive life. In years when we missed thinning (stuff happens), the apples made very little new foliar growth. We grow organically, with proper pruning and thinning very effectively taking the place of sprays. It's less about fruit size than growing healthy, well-balanced trees.

My daughter is in 4-H horticulture and one of her projects is with stock tanks. You take two 2 1/2'high x 4' long stock tanks put them together length ways. Make sure they have holes in bottom so you can put a screw drain cap on them. Build with treated wood a 4'high x 8'long box to surround theses tanks. make sure you drill a hole where the drain cap is. Put a 4'width x8'length lattice on top of tanks.Take a pvc pipe put through one of the lattice holes and into to tank about an inch. Then hook a pvc elbow and another pipe so it comes out of the side of the box. (You will have to drill another hole) On top of lattice cover generously with straw and then cover straw with dirt to the top. Fill the water tank through the pvc pipe until water comes out. Plant your garden and watch it grow. The warming and moisture from bottom grows a wonderful garden. It is an experiment that turned out Great.

Thanks for all your replies. I was originally thinking of the 10' beds would be subdivided into 3, 3' beds, but you've all made me think that's not wise. That would rule out using the tractor and tiller mid season. Given that my tractor is 7' wide and tiller is 5' wide, I think I'm stuck with making the width of bed + walkway equal a total of 7' at least. Jay has given me some ideas for how the bed itself can be varied a bit, but ultimately the "pitch" of my beds (from one front edge to another) should stay at 7 or 7.5'. I'm definitely going to look into getting a bed shaper. I see that a close by equipment dealer has one for sale for $950. Maybe I can find an old cultivator and just get the bed shaping discs made for it? Chris