Just remember, RR ties get to be heavy after a while. If you are lifting them and they're light-weight, the core's already been eaten out by termites. RR ties are fine in some areas, I don't recommend them around your house just because of the termite vector, especially here in the south. If it's a large, mounded bed, veggies up in center where water's always washing down really isnt a problem. But I would not plant veggies immediately behind RR ties. At least a few rows back where you have maybe marigolds and garlic and onions in front as pest deterants would be the minimum distance I'd put tomatoes back from RR ties, just knowing cresote chemistry and leaching. But again, a raised bed with mounded soil will limit much of the back-leaching and instead have it flow down and away from your plants anyway. The more vertical clearance past the RR ties down to the ground the better, as it will encourage a 'safer' removal of the cresote. Otherwise, busted up concrete and hauling off rocks from construction sites works for me. I've only bought some cobblestone pavers to edge out central areas I'm around a lot, and use the rougher stuff elsewhere.

Larry, They both have cancer? Oh, my. That is a really tough break. I understand what they are going through, having been through it myself and having a family member battling cancer now too. I cannot imagine what your daughter and son-in-law would do without you right now, and am glad you live close enough to them to be able to help them. Mia, The north-south or east-west issue is as old as the hills. I believe the technically correct answer is that in most cases it is preferable to run beds north-south to take full advantage of both morning and afternoon sun as the sun passes from east to west. When you plant this way, as the sun passes overhead, the plants are not shaded by the plants on either side of them. Taller plants like corn, tomato plants, pole beans, tall forms of okra, etc. should be on the north end of the garden so they do not shade shorter plants. However.... We all live in the real world and have to take other factors into consideration. I consider the slope of the land to be the deciding factor in how to run rows if you are not on relatively level ground. So, for those of us gardening on a slope, I think it is better to run our rows sideways across the slope instead of up-and-down the slope. When you run your rows across the slope, you can reduce the impact of erosion. Someone like me whose garden slopes both from west to east and from south to north has to use creative bed placement to stop erosion as much as possible. I have most beds running east-west because that is what works with my slope, but some running north-south, also to reduce erosion. It isn't perfect, and I tinker with the layout from time to time, but I'm happy with it overall. For someone in a very exposed area where wind exposure causes lots of damage to the plants, those gardeners might choose to site the rows based on the direction from which their most damaging winds tend to come. For someone whose garden is in a yard with homes or other buildings, wooden stockade fences, trees, etc. nearby, a person needs to site their garden rows in whichever manner works best with the surrounding items that may case shade on the beds or funnel rain runoff onto them or whatever. In a new home, you partly have to guess at how this will work your first year. The sun and shadow patterns you observe at this time of year will not be the same patterns you'll see in summer. Now, having said all that, I sat here and thought about the gardens belonging to people on roads nearby and most of their rows run east-west. We all have different issues with terrain, but even the gardens I can think of that are on flat land or relatively flat land near us run their beds from east to west. I can think of only two that run north-south. You'd have to pick the brain of each individual to see why they choose to run the beds east-west or north south. In the one area where I have beds on relatively flat land, the rows do run north-south. Dawn

Oh my! I thought I had posted to this thread! LOL at the cheaterpants, heh heh heh! Hey, if Stacy can call you names then I can too! Funny stuff! Jessica, great job on all but that cake plate is something special! Stacy, enjoy your box! I was a lucky recipient of a swap package from Jessica. I remember feeling very special!

Here's what I've always been told.... say you have 2 romex going into a box (12/2) Two blacks (one for each romex) = 2 Two whites (one for each romex) = 2 All grounds count as one = 1 Devices (switches/outlets) count as two = 2 pigtails don't count so you would have 7 wires by my example. That's how I was taught and I've been doing it that way for years and never been turned down or told otherwise. Almost all plastic boxes will tell you their fill also. So you don't need to worry about the cubic inches most of the time since they've already done it for you and stamped it on the back of the box.