Just go ahead and scrape off an about 1/2" from top. Hopefully it has not rained on it.

Would you believe it poured last night? What do you suggest?

Plant and forget it.

Hi Jean, are you saying that I shouldn't worry about any carcinogens getting absorbed into my veggies? Can you elaborate? I would really appreciate it!

If you're worried about carcinogens being absorbed by paint overspray, I'd not sit on those chairs you painted. Are you going to wash your hands every time you sit down on them or go out on your patio? But if your veggies end up being pretty colors, what's not to like?

But really, I believe the main "potential carcinogen" (according to OSHA) in spray paint is methylene chloride, which is used as a propellant. But that's long gone after the paint dries. ("Dries" as in the propellant evaporates, which it will even if it lands on moist ground.)

20 cans? That's a lot of chairs! You probably breathed in plenty of that overspray.

Hi Dan, I really was pretty covered in that over-spray, so yes I'm pretty sure I breathed in quite a bit of it. Each chair took about 2 cans, and I ended up spray painting some other things as well. But yes, it was probably close to 15 or 20 cans after all was said and done. So you think most of the carcinogens were in the propellant and not so much the overspray that landed on my Mel's Mix?

I think that dried paint isn't much of a hazard, or else we'd all be exposed to it all the time. I suspect that breathing in paint dust isn't good for you, but that's not what we're talking about here.

Again, methylene chloride has been "linked" to carcinogenicity, but the results of those studies are by no means conclusive. So the bottom line is that OSHA doesn't consider spray paint to be necessarily a carcinogen. No question that the stuff is an irritant. It'll do nasty stuff to you if you ingest a lot.

So yes, methylene chloride did land on your Mel's Mix, but it landed in your lungs as well. In both places, it was probably gone within an hour or so.

Got it Dan, thanks so much! With all the rain we've been getting here in Houston the past two days, I'm pretty sure anything that might have gotten into my MM is long gone by now either way. Thanks for your help!