tcs -- This will be an interesting experiment. Having steel-sided raised beds in Portland I'll be interested to see what you find. Folks have opined that our beds do so well in part because they heat up quickly in the sun, but I've never measured the effect. I have a few thoughts about your testing... An important variable will be the depth of the measurement - ideally at least 4-6 inches to replicate the root zone - within a conventional bed about 16-18 inches tall. The depth matters to somewhat isolate the effect of the bed walls from the top surface heating - which the non-bed soil would also experience. There should be equal amounts of water applied to the bed and non-bed test sites so that soil water content isn't too diverse a variable. I think the soil in and out of the bed should be the same to eliminate the soil and saturation variables. Another interesting factor would be measurements of temperature at several distances from the walls of the beds, and the directions the walls are facing. South-facing walls ought to get the most radiant sun heating, while cooling ought to be uniform on all sides. Another factor would be the material and thickness of the walls. The included link shows that wood (pine/oak) has a similar thermal conductivity to soil with organic matter. Saturated soil has a higher conductivity, with comparable to concrete, or much higher (depending I suppose on water content for saturation). A wood-sided bed and a brick/concreted sided bed would be an interesting comparison. (The thermal conductivity of our steel beds is about 300x that of wood...) This will be interesting. Looking forward to what you find. Here is a link that might be useful: Thermal Conductivities

Do you have a space in your flower beds on the south side, near the house to set up a cold frame? I used this to start flowers for years before I got my lights and greenhouse. Near the house because it is warmer and on the south side because it is the sunniest. A simple cold frame costs only a pittance. You need 2 poles or something as long as your cold frame that you can staple plastic to. Next you need some heavy guage clear plastic and something to use for hoops. Heavy guage wire or dry cleaners hangers unwound and bent in a hoop shape. Look around and see what you can find--they only have to sit 2 to 2 1/2 feet high. You also need a couple of stones or bricks. Cut a piece of plastic --doubled is best--wide enough to go over the frame with room to staple your poles on each side. Then gather together the ends and stretch it out past the last hoop. Put a brick or stone on this to hold it.To open it a little bring the end on the least windy side upto the first hoop and use a clothespin or clip to hold it there. On days you want it open more you can roll it up on the front pole. You will find you have to open it a little or a lot every day even couldy days. In a small space like that it doesn't take much for it to get too hot from just the sun. I opened mine around 9AM in the morning and closed it around 4 PM to let some heat build up Set it up a week or 2 early to warm the ground. I suggest you plant your seed right in the soil. They take less care that way and do better than planted in pots. Make sure your plants don't touch the plastic or they'll freeze. The cold frame will protect your plants from a couple of degrees of frost. If you know it's getting colder than that throw a blanket or something over it When transplanting these dig them out getting as much root as possible. Have your hole ready and fill it with water and let it soak into the ground, then plant your plant. Place an upside down colored--not clear pot over the newly planted plant. Place a clump of dirt or stone on top to keep it from blowing away. Leave it for 2 or 3 days. This allows the roots to get moisture right away and shades the plant so it can spread it's roots without coping with a too hot sun. When you take off the pot you'll notice a ring of moisture right around the plant and your plant is standing up and not wilting. You can also use milk jugs or large pop bottles with the bottom cut out Warm the soil where you want them to grow like above. Plant 2 or 3 seeds and press the bottle into the soil over the seeds. Remove the lid to allow excess heat to escape. Check for water every couple of days and wait for them to grow. Again don't let the plant touch the sides. These are like little clouches and work great. So there you have it. Hope it works for you

Many of our medical people have not yet accepted that exposure to many of the poisons sprayed on land that is "conventionally" farmed can cause chronic health problems even though they recognize they can cause acute health problems. Exposure to more then one could cause a symbiotic relationship that is not healthy. That some people are more susceptible to adverse reactions to these poisons is also a known and if that person is exposed to more than one of these potential allergins can cause even larger problems. Unfortunately the only way to find put if a person is suscetible to any substance is to expose them to that substance. While an allergist can, and will, test someone for these types of allergies it will only be done if there is good reason to suspect there is a need. So alaria121 if you are still able to please update us on what, if anything has been found.

Sherry, Well, I think you can plant them and have limited success. Onions have to be in the ground and achieve a certain amount of growth before bulbing is induced. Since bulbing is induced by a combination of daylength and temperature, it is going to happen when the daylength-temperature combo is achieved, whether the onions have been in the ground for one week, one month, or whatever. So, that is why we have to plant onions so very early--to get maximum growth before initiation of the bulbing process begins. Most onions needs to be in the ground a minimum of 90 to 100 days before bulb initiation starts in order to size up fully, and some need 100 to 120 days. Short day-length onions will begin to bulb up once the daylength (hours of sunlight) reaches about 10-12 hours in combination with the right temperature. Intermediate day-length onions need 12-14 hours days to bulb up. Long day-length onions will begin to bulb up once the daylength is 14-16 hours and the temperature is right, which is why the long daylength onions are not grown in our part of the county. (Our daylength here maxes out around 14 hours.) So, if the onions go into the ground late, they will grow and they still will bulb up once bulb initiation occurs. They'll just be smaller when bulb initiation occurs, thus, they will be smaller at maturity than onions that were planted earlier. One reason that short day-length and intermediate day-length onions planted in the southern third of the country get bigger than those EXACT same varieties grown in the upper 2/3s of the country is that our weather allows us to plant the onions up to 5 months prior to bulb initiation, and the northern states' colder weather does not allow them to plant until approx. 75 days before bulb initiation. So, if you plant late this year, you'll get onions that are "northern-sized" instead of "southern-sized", but you'll still get onions! If you don't mind knowing you'll get smaller onions, go ahead and go for it. It would be a good learning experience if you've never grown onions before. Some commonly-sold short day-length onions are TX 1015Y (aka Texas Sweet or Texas Supersweet), Yellow Granex, White Bermuda, Southern Belle Red and Contessa. Some commonly-sold intermediate day-length onions are Candy, Stockton Sweet Red and Superstar. Some commonly sold long day-length onions (and these should NOT be sold in our region) include Borrettana Cippolini, Red Torpedo Tropea, Ailsa Craig (there's also a tomato by this name), Copra, Big Daddy, Red Burgermaster, Red Zeppelin, Walla Walla, Yellow Sweet Spanish and Ringmaster. I've already planted my main crop of onions, but I do continue planting onions in various spots around the garden as companion plants, and I will, probably through mid-to-late April. Of course, I don't care if those companion-planted onions bulb up or not. Sometimes I leave the companion plant onions in the ground until the following year, and let them bloom in the spring. Their tiny flowers attract a TON of tiny pollinators and beneficial insects, and are quite attractive as well. Dawn