No one asking anyone to read ALL those replies. If you do not want to know what we know, skip our replies. On a new thread or topic, we will come over & reply & you will be back where you are now. jolj(7b/8a) henry, I am going to try solarization on my bahia grass. 90% of the things on this thread will not eradicate bahia grass. This includes round up, which kills the tops, but not the deep roots. Round up will not kill nut sage/ nut grass or common dew berry vines. So I will try this on the bahia. I have heard that the solarization may kill the soil food web, when it kills the weeds. I am planning to sheet compost the beds after I kill the grass/ weeds. I have been told that tilling kills the soil food web. Not sure who is right or if it matters, I give vegetables away every season including the winter. I grow more then I can use, then I must be doing something right. [Like[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/organic-way-to-get-rid-of-bermuda-grass-dsvw-vd~1521679) I did this in 2011 & it worked great.

I have white Caesarstone perimeters and honed Danby marble on my island. I'm obviously biased, but I think it looks great! I'm also very happy with the functionality of both the quartz and the marble surfaces. My BS is polished calacatta mosaic tiles. Both marbles in my kitchen have the same warmish white undertone as the Caesastone "Blizzard" color that I chose. The other CS whites ("pure white" and "organic white") I thought clashed a little with my specific marble slab, if I recall. There is some etching on the marble counter, as expected, but there is enough veining that it's difficult to find and I don't mind it at all. my GW post is here, but the other link below has some better pictures of teh CS and marble together: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0300101117213.html?30 Here is a link that might be useful: my kitchen-scroll down to

I have Gedatsu (Silestone) which is a solid, dark chocolaty brown. It definitely needs to be dusted and wiped down often, I'm not gonna lie. It does get dusty and you can see every streak, food particle, etc. on it. But I don't mind! My kitchen is smallish and I enjoy caring for and maintaining my new counter top. I just really quickly give it a once over with a rag, no biggie! Another thing worth mentioning, is when water splashes from the faucet onto the counter top you can really see the water drops... and then you have to wipe them away. I don't know if people have the same experience with light or light counter tops... maybe if you can't see the water as easily you don't feel as obligated to wipe it up.

There is no hard & fast date, but just North of you (in Winnebago County) I generally get beans in from May 20th, to June 10th, depending upon weather. For planning purposes, I aim for June 1st. My soil is not well drained though, and you are further South... so you can probably get beans in a week earlier than me. Last year was a really bad year to grow beans for the first time, much of Wisconsin (and much of the Great Lakes region in general) had drenching rains for most of May & June. I planted only a few of my beans on time. If you are not saving seed though, you can plant much later. I planted the pole variety "Emerite" over the 4th of July weekend last year, and was still able to fill my freezer with snaps. "Beans are a cool weather crop..." I would agree - if you are referring to runner beans. Personally, I would refer to common snap beans as more of a warm weather crop... and lima beans as a hot weather crop. Provided that they are planted on time, all of them will produce seed here. "On time" has been the big "if" in recent years, I hope we get more moderate rainfall this year.