Your recipe is almost identical to my grandmother's. She (in her words) used a scant 3/4 cup of salt in a gallon of warm water (which sounds right based on Carol's mathematics) along with the dill and garlic. She also would take a knife and slit the cucumbers all the way through the center, but leaving the ends intact, so the brine would penetrate into the cucumbers. Then on the top of the brine, she always put a slice of rye bread, covered the crock with a flour sack towel and left it in the sun for five days. Then she'd strain the brine, put in a few fresh garlic cloves and a bit of vinegar (I use about 1/4 cup or to taste), and they went into the refrigerator. These have always been my favorite pickles.

Are you using regular florescent tubes, or the grow-light tubes? There is a difference, and for seedlings, you need the grow-light ones. Sorry but no. This claim has come up here before and the "you need" part of it simply isn't correct. Thousands of growers, professionals included, use nothing but regular, plain, inexpensive 4' fluorescent tubes to grow seedlings quite successfully. There is no need to spend the extra $$$ on special grow bulbs. The goal is green growth only, not the blooming and fruiting that require the grow bulb spectrum. Now of course you can invest in them if you wish. They certainly aren't going to hurt anything. But there is no NEED to use them. Dave

Usually when the yellowing begins at the oldest leaves first and works its way up progressively through the older leaves ... and the yellowing is uniform yellowing with no black spots or ringed blotches on the leaves ... that is a sure sign of the plant robbing nitrogen from the older leaves and transferring it to the new growth ... meaning your plants are asking for a nitrogen boost. However, I don't see the "yellowing" ... all I see in your pictures is some off-color, dull khaki colored leaves like in that third picture, then it seems the coloration goes to dry, dead, dark tan or light brown. Also, look at that first picture and the last picture where the discoloration seems to have skipped past some of the older leaves and is well progressed on a some of the foliage in mid-plant. That doesn't seem indicative of typical nitrogen deficiency which would seem to be the first deficiency that would appear if indeed you are flushing or leaching out nutrients by over-watering as N is more unstable and "leachable" than P or K ... and you say you're fertilizing regularly with Miracle Grow. So, I don't really suspect it's lack of application. I'm thinking possibly disease of some sort. I'm not familiar with Miracle Grow plant growing mixes, but I did have trouble this summer with a knock-off brand of the same type stuff from Scotts (which I think is the same company now) where it was just to moisture rententive for the tomato plants I happened to use it for. I thought I had lucked into a good deal when I got a couple of busted bags for half price ... but the plants in that mix withered up similarly to yours, but not exactly the same color or pattern of disorder. But the mix always seemed saturated. My other potted tomatoes never had a problem all summer even though I watered them nearly daily and at the risk of overwatering ... but they were in a very porous homemade mix and never showed the least sign of what we're talking about here. So, I'm really no help with regard to the possibility of over watering. Personally, since your plants are showing that funky off-color on the leaves AND some of the stem tissue ... and since there seems to be some leaf distortion going on there too ... like a little roll while there's still some greenish color left ... you may want to take some examples of leaves to your county extension horticulturalist. If you do, take some healthy leaves, some that are just starting to show the disorder, and other foliage AND some of those discolored stems in various stages of dying and death so she or he has enough evidence to make a determination whether you're dealing with a fungal or bacterialogical agent or some other thing we all may be missing here.

Thanks everyone... after posting here, I went to Wal-mart (right across the street and open 24 hrs, thank goodness) and got some Benadryl. I also checked their price on scallops (just for "fun") and realized that Publix raped me on that price... Wal-mart 3 difference sized scallops and none of the bags were over 10 dollars! Of course these were probably from China... the Publix ones were from Canada. Of course I won't ever worry about that again... I can't eat those things anymore! It's no fun to itch all over at the same time, but at least the reaction wasn't more severe. Rob333, don't feel bad. Who knew this was going to happen? The only other thing I'm allergic to is salmon, which is OK since I don't love it. Guess it's crab cakes and shrimp for me from now on! Thanks for your concern everyone. I'm OK this morning (or afternoon), and finally got to sleep. Last night when it happened, I took a hot bath with oatmeal because I didn't know what was going on. I was so confused and I thought that would help the itching. I thought I got something on my skin or something! I promise I will not start a thread asking for scallop recipes! I still have half the bag left that I've got to throw away or give to someone... I even vacuum sealed the extra so they wouldn't get freezer burn!