What does the label say? Pre-emergents affect ALL seeds, but it only affects them as seeds. Once they sprout, it no longer should have any effect. Mix 3/4 of your compost with the existing soil and level it. Then, just to be safe, fill the rest of the bed with a mix of some of your compost and soil from non-treated soil. What you're aiming for is a 'safe zone' for your seeds, where they won't come in contact with the herbicide until after they sprout. Next time, why not just lay some cardboard over the grass and pin it down with your garden box, and let the lack of light kill off the grass? Do this in fall, and fill the box with leaves and grass clippings. By spring, rake off anything the soil creatures haven't eaten and dragged underground, and you'll have a nice bed, ready to plant, and it won't have all the 'seasonings' of the toxins of this chemical soup. Adding chemicals to good compost seems kind of contradictory, IMO. One of the big advantages of home gardening is knowing what's in your fruits and veggies, and what IS NOT in your fruits and veggies, esp if you are feeding children, elderly or people with compromised immune systems. I looked up the MSDS (Material Safety & Data Sheet) for this product, and when I see a warning like the next paragrah (for Dithiopyr, the active ingredient), I do tend to wonder about the accumulative effects: Ingestion: Call a physician or poison control center. Give person 1 to 2 glasses of water to drink, and induce vomiting by touching the back of throat with finger. If Syrup of Ipecac is available, give 1 tablespoon (15ml) followed by 1 to 2 glasses of water. If vomiting does not occur within 20 minutes, repeat dosage once. Never induce vomiting or give anything by mouth to an unconscious or convulsing person. Note to physician: no specific antidote is available. Treat symptomatically. The other ingredients aren't any better: Heavy aromatic naphtha Naphthalene 1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene 1,3,5-Trimethylbenzene 2-Ethylhexanol Many people argue that all these chemicals break down in the soil. Yes, they can, IF the soil is biologically active, and IF they aren't over-applied, which is usually not the case, which is why they show up in your drinking water. Okay, rant over. Sue

My surprise success this fall was endive. I can't say exactly which variety, it was a generic from the feed store. Possibly "Batavian". Broadcast probably too thickly, in 2 ft wide beds, it quickly formed a dense carpet which thoroughly choked out weeds. It then grew into a mat of rather spindly plants much too close together I'm sure. But as it got about 10" tall, with plant density about 4"x4", I was able to clip them to get leaf cuttings by the handfuls, yet not kill off the growing point of the plant. These first leaves weren't the typical curly endive leaves, but were similar to a young romaine leaf lettuce, but separate leaves. My customers loved that they needed almost no washing because they were so thick no rain splashed up. Each week I went further down the bed, cutting a new section each time. Eventually, the endive began to 'head up' and develop the curly leaves I expected. Being crowded, these leaves were more erect compared to the flattened heads of endive I had grown before, and as fall got cooler, they grew crisp and creamy, even white and rather blanched out in the interior of the heads. Right down to 15 degreesF they held well, but eventually succombed to the more intense frosts and were gone. I held some in the fridge for some weeks, and wonder if some might have held even longer if uprooted and stored in a cold frame or tubs in a root cellar. All in all, a great crop. I'm considering trying some of the european varieties, I see the Italians seem to specialize in these, but really don't know which is which or what these varieties have to offer. Give endive a try! Here is a link that might be useful: Italian endives buono!

Diane, It is a challenge to figure it out, isn't it! It is safe to say that I could grow zero brussels sprouts and my family would be delighted...so that one is easy to figure out. (I like 'em fresh but no one else cares for them. LOL) Today we were looking at fresh produce at Central Market in Fort Worth (yes, I was in hog heaven, thank you very much) and Tim sampled a tiny cup of black-eyed peas. Now, several thoughts ran through my mind. First of all, do they "have to" give away samples of black-eyed peas to get people to try them? Secondly, doesn't everyone know what blackeyed peas taste like? LOL Finally, when my dear husband looked at the bag of more-or-less freshly hulled black-eyed peas (maybe a pint of fresh peas in that bag) and saw they were $5.99, I practically purred like a kitten, thinking of all the pint bags of freshly-shelled (then frozen) black-eyed peas in our freezer.....all of which grew right here in our good old Oklahoma soil with no chemicals, etc. I felt smug and content (in a good way, NOT in a conceited 'holier-than-thou-because-we-grow-our-own" way) but more than that I felt grateful that we are able to grow our own and process/preserve them to be eaten later on. It is the most wonderful feeling in the world to be feeding your family from your own garden and to know where your food came from and how it was raised. I have a pressure canner but have only done BWB stuff this year along with tons of dehydrating and freezing. I go on canning binges....can a lot some years, less in others. With this year's recurring rains, I've put up more food for the 'off-season' than in many prior drought years, and I am really happy about that. So far, one thing I've learned is that no matter how many beans and peas I plant, we eat them all long before the next gardening season rolls around. So, I am planning on lots more next year. Yesterday I picked Roma beans from the garden...and I don't even remember which variety I have except that they are the bush form and that it was from Franchi Simenti seed, and they are so good that I know I must plant many more of them next year. I can only remember one year in recent memory....and it might have been 2004....where I put up enough beans to get us from one gardening year to the next without running out. Growing the soil is why new beds take me so long to build too. In the long run, it is worth it of course, but turning clay into great garden loam certainly involves a long commitment! And, yet, I don't know how we could have done it any differently. I have found very few (almost no) spots in Love County that have a nice, rich, humusy sandy loam that is naturally occurring. For most people here, there are three choices: very sandy soil that drains too quickly in dry years and is prone to nematodes, heavy, thick red (but highly fertile) clay like we have here, and caliche clay full of rocks. So, with those three to choose from, I'm glad we have the clay, but I also appreciate our one small band of sand that cuts across the yard. I greow pecan and fruit trees in that band of sandy soil and they love it. Got your eye on a specific brand of canner? As for jars, I collect them. hee hee I can't walk past jars or lids without wanting more......"just in case". Even if I have plenty of empty jars sitting in storage waiting to be used, I almost have a panic attack when the stores start putting the jars and lids on clearance in the fall. What if I need jars a month or two from now and can't find any? (This has never happened--I always have jars tucked away in the pantry or in a closet, but "what if?" LOL). I always thought I'd have a smaller garden as time went on and we got older, but now I'm growing enough for 2 families instead of 1, so I'm growing more. (Although, DS and his wife and their daughter don't eat as many veggies as we do, except for french fries and green beans...and salsa.) My all-time favorite dedicated kitchen garden spot was an 8' x 8' raised bed in which I planted a "Salsa Garden". It was just outside the back door and in it I had tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic and cilantro. If you had a sudden urge to make salsa, everything was right there. I later planted a few rose bushes in that raised bed and enjoyed that, but I liked it better as a salsa garden. Dawn

My friend told me to watch out for squash bugs. I guess the borers are what she is talking about. As far as beds for the garden,there are really no beds. What my hubby did was till up the ground and planted the seeds the same day. He didn't put any fertilizers. We really had no idea how to do a garden this was the first year. We thought we would take a shot at it and plant a "few" things. Mainly tomato,bellpepper,chili pepper,and squash. Hubby decided he wanted more so we ended up with quite a big assortment of plants. Too many to take care of in my oppinion. The only tomato plant that made it was one that we gave to the neighbor. It's huge with giant tomatoes on it. This was a very discouraging thing for us... I guess you learn as you do it?? I'm up for another garden next year. We have a few plants outside right now that we are going to be placing in containers and hope that they produce for us.. Thanks for the help.