not as sturdy as I thought it would be but that actually is better b/c it lighter weight to move around while you assemble and position. Once it's in the ground you have a whole mess of dirt that will shore it up. Pretty easy assembly - I expected worse. Just have a power drill on hand but the pre drilled holes make it pretty slick. You need to dig holes to sink the posts and digging those can be a bit of a pain especially if you don't have a post digger but they aren't very deep so it's totally doable. Can't wait to fill it up and get growing.