Yikes! That was a dirty trick. The salt will stop plant growth, but how long it lasts depends on how much salt is present and how much organic matter is in the soil to help process it. Some vegetables, such as root crops, will handle the poison better than others - lettuce and other leafy crops will suffer and wilt the most. You are not alone. I once put rock salt all around the lobelia in my first garden when I was 12 years old. I thought it would keep the slugs away. I woke up to dead lobelia lying flat on the ground. In another "salt of the earth" story, the victors of the North, after the Civil War, spread salt on the fields of their worst enemies in the Southern plantations. Legend has it that it took the Southern soil 7 years to recover from the salt application. Hope that does not scare you - water well and hope for the best. Keep growing - no matter what they do to you, Marianne Binetti