I've been reading the discussion on raised beds with some interest. I'm not a gardener myself--I'll let other people grow the chiles and I'll handle eating them--but my sister is a Master Gardener, and I remembered that when she built her raised beds the treatment of the wood was an issue. So I asked her what she used and she said: >I used a copper based wood treatment. It turned the wood >green, much like your Statue of Liberty, but works well. The copper will >leech into the soil as anything will, but shouldn't be a problem as this is a >naturally occuring substance. I hope this is of value to the chile growers out there. Cheers! and have a happy weekend. ******************************** David J. Estrin New York NY dje1157@mindspring.com "Te audire no possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure."