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.

"subk3 - have you read the posted link? Me thinks not." Well I read the part where it said "ban the sale" and "place a moratorium." Which part do you think I'm missing? And how long do you think it takes the Federal government to do a review? Because of drought conditions I have a specific weed problem in about 30 acres of pasture that will respond to one or two treatments of the aforementioned class of herbicide OR 4 or more applications of a herbicide with a much shorter half life. Anybody think spraying 30 acres 4 or 5 times with a less effective chemical while managing appropriate grazing rotation for the livestock is either insignificant in terms of the cost of fuel, product, man hours or organization and timing? I manage and personally use my compost from the animals that graze these fields and as long as I'm aware of the herbicide situation I have plenty of use for the resulting "bad" compost--just not on my gardens. And taxcrusader I think it depends on your definition of compost as to whether "everything" ends up as compost. If anything that comes out of the back end of an animal is compost then yes your are right. If you narrow that down to waste that is specifically managed then used to promote vegetation that may be tender than that's a whole 'nuther ball game. That class of livestock waste if very, very small. I've been in the horse business 30+ years. I'm one of the very few I know who purposely composts stall leavings with the intent of a specific end product. The vast majority of stables I know either pay to have it hauled to a landfill--this happens closer to urban/suburban areas (Yes, cringe, I know) OR they spread it on their own fields--a case where the residual herbicide can have effects a farm manager likes! OR lastly they dedicate an area and just pile the stuff up to deal with much later. None of those situations have it coming in contact with the tender plants it's a problem for, and that's the overwhelming majorty of stuff that comes from the back end of a horse. I live in a very horsey area. I know of two businesses that create and sell compost from horse leavings. One is a huge horse boarding facility that also produces their own hay so they are controlling the process from the beginning. The other contracts with only a few stables to collect and haul it away--I don't know how they manage the quality of hay intake--but they have told me it's a 2 year process from start to finished product which may help the situation. "Labeling" will not solve this problem and any government official who thought it would is an idiot. The problem arises because the composter is usually at the end of a long line of vendors away from the guy who read the label in the first place. A typical bale of hay could be sprayed and cut, sold to a distributer, who sells it to a merchant like a farmers Co-op who sells it to a barn owner who sells the resulting leavings to a composter. With several possibilties of additional middlemen. Educating livestock owners/farm managers is closer to the answer. I participate in a horse forum much like GardenWeb. It's a much more educated group than the average horse owner and the folks on that board are completely clueless that this is a problem. I did not learn about it until I came here. It isn't the chemical. It's using the chemical without knowing its end destination--which is simply inappropriate use. If I paint manufacture used a toxic chemical in the manucturing process that they didn't know how or where it would end up that would be a problem too. I don't see that this is much different.

This has been the same petsitter I have used since 1999. Never a problem before. When she started with me she was a single mom of 2 high school boys getting ready to move on to college. She has now remarried and her husband has come with her the past two times she has sat for me. You cannot tell me that between the two adults, they couldn't get a plan together? She has a cat, I hate to even think how ineffective she would be if her own cat got out. I called several times from the boat, and she was fine. On Wednesday nite when I got a cell signal and called her, I could tell in her voice that something was wrong, but she kept telling me all was well. I was suspicious, but I thought perhaps calling her so late, I had just caught her sleeping - Alaska time is 4 hrs behind East Coast. I called again the next afternoon when we were in spot with cell service (on an expedition cruise - so not many cell tower signals when you are on a small boat adventure). When I called the next day she acted oddly again and I kept asking her if everything was alright. "Yes, I am just sick". "Are you sure, your voice doesn't sound right, is everything and everyone okay". "Yes, just not feeling good". She was very short with me. I knew then that something wasn't right. I immediately found my SIL on the boat and had her call the house as her dog was here for a few days while her petsitter was away. She then called to see how her dog was and said I was on a hike. Sitter fessed up to my SIL while I was actually sitting in the wheelhouse hearing my SIL's end of the conversation. I immediately had SIL give me the phone. Explanation through sobbing about what happened. Didn't want to ruin your trip, yada yada. I freaked out on her I told her I wanted her to pull herself together and stop crying and start acting like an adult - this woman is 50 yr. old school teacher. This was Thursday late night Eastern Time and cat was gone from Monday p.m. - too many days. She had done nothing except look around the yard and obvious places around the house. I went off on her (badly, I am embarrassed to admit) and told her to put the cat box outside, call the shelters, call the police and ask if anyone had reported seeing him or if they picked him up. I then called my parents to come to my home and pull out the beds - look well throughout the house to be sure he wasn't hiding, ordered 3 live traps from my exterminator, and asked petsitter to put DD clothes outfront. At that point she was fired. DH was out on actual excursion with a naturalist. Told him when he returned and we decided not to tell my DD until we were home. Still had 4 days to go. It was hell for the rest of the time as we had a full 24 hours of travel with a redeye coming in on Sunday morning and then a 2 hr. ride home from the airport. My DD was continually telling me how much she missed Louie and how she hoped he would like the souveniers she had gotten him. She had found some soft animal birds that chirp. I was physically ill when I had to lie to her. Lying to me is the number one no-no. DH feels torn. Understands that petsitter was trying to not ruin our vacation, but is upset at her inaction. We found the cat within 14 hours of arriving on terra firma at the house. I just felt that she could have done more. There are plenty of photos around the house of the cat, she could have made flyers, she could have done more. I kept checing back with her asking her if she had called the shelter again. Her answer was I left your phone number. I freaked again and told her I wanted her to call 2 times per day to each shelter and the police station that they were not going to call us. She was just plain lazy in this situation. At 4:30 p.m. eastern time the traps hadn't shown up. My exterminator is my neighbor, petsitter says I'll find the number in the phone book. I told her NO WAY - WALK UP TO HIS HOUSE, KNOCK ON THE DOOR AND TELL HIM WHAT IS GOING ON. She did and the traps showed up poste haste and my neighbor actually check the traps at 11 p.m. each nite to be sure the cat wouldn't be stuck in one all night should he go in. I will not have her back again. No bail money needed, just have no confidence whatsoever in her for future needs. I will find another petsitter, as I prefer to have my pets at home while I vacation. I do not board my animals, never have, never will. I am not going to lose confidence in all petsitters because of this petsitter's inaction. The lady who runs our shelter's adoption at the Petsmart remarked she should be shot. I think so too, but I am just so thankful we have him back that I am chalking it up to a terrible experience from which I learned a very valuable lesson and DD cat is home. Had this turned out differently, I may have needed some bail money - big time. Thanks for the positive responses. I hope the hints for looking can help someone should they face the same horrible situation.