On Sat, 22 Mar 2003 13:40:14 -0500, Julie wrote:
It seems I've heard at one time or other you can bake dirt - - in a
pan, in the oven - - to kill weed seeds. Any truth to this?

I suppose it might work but have you ever smelled baked dirt? I don't know
about you, but I don't think my wife would take kindly to having her oven
used to bake dirt. *yuk*.

One alternative you can try is soil solarization. Here are the rough steps
(shamelessly stolen from the Sunset Western Garden Book):

1. Till the bed that you are preparing and remove ALL of the growing weeds.
2. Make a bed at least 2.5 feet wide and soak to a depth of 1 foot
3. Cover soil with 1 to 4 mil clear plastic (UV Resistant is best).
4. Bury edges of plastic in a ditch to keep it in place
5. Leave in place for 4-8 weeks (shorter times for less invasive weeds,
longer times for tougher ones). Do not leave in place more than 8 weeks
otherwise soil structure may be damaged.

I don't use this method personally since I live in Seattle and we don't get
reliable sun (well, not during the winter - our summers are typically
amazing If you get fairly reliable full sun on a patch, it should work
quite well.

Keep in mind that weed seeds will only be killed in the top layers of soil.
If you till the bed, weed seeds will be brought back to the surface.

BTW the reason I enclosed "compost" in quotes is I've never added any
manure, nothing to help it cook other than coffee grounds. Not sure
if this qualifies as compost or not, but it sure is rich looking.

Sounds like compost to me although you probably not well cooked compost.
To "properly" cook compost you need to maintain an adequate carbon/nitrogen
ratio, proper moisture, and proper airflow. Not super difficult, but it
takes some work. (I'm lazy, so my compost is typically "slow" compost that
I stir from time to time)

--

Matt...