Rail City Garden Center in Sparks will accept your unwanted pesticides Oct. 16 and properly dispose of them in conjunction with the Nevada Department of Agriculture. "Pesticides" include weed killers, insecticides and rodent baits but not fertilizers.

For more information, see the article at ThisIsReno.com.

I don't get to Rail City very often, but I have a warm spot in my heart for the place this year. When Phil built the extension to one of our raised beds last spring, I reluctantly let him go there and buy a load of soil for it. I hate to spend money on "dirt," but I knew I'd never be able to scrape together enough soil and compost from around here to fill up the bed.

When he brought the soil home and put it in the box, it was black and seemed to be all dry organic matter. I was afraid it would all blow away. I even called the Rail City and quizzed someone there to be sure he had bought the right stuff.

Was it ever. I planted corn seeds in it late in the spring, and the plants grew two or three times higher than the ones I had in another bed last year. We've even had edible corn for the first time ever. Whatever they're doing at Rail City, it works!