Avoiding Death By Garden – Take 2

Another point has come to my attention about the dangers you could face when growing your own food.
Contaminated soil. It’s more common than you might think, especially in urban areas. Heavy metals or chemicals or salination, there are some really difficult things that just sit in the ground and wait to surprise the unwitting gardener.  Eating something grown in contaminated soil will give dose of whatever they are contaminated with.

Get a good soil test, so you KNOW what’s there. You can get good tests from local ag extension offices. There are companies that do it for profit. Some will custom mix fertilizers to amend your particular soil.

Root Simple is discussing the prospects of phytoremdiation. There are plants that for whatever reason will take up certain heavy metals better than others. Hyperaccumulate is the term used by those in the know. By intentionally planting them en masse, then ripping them out and treating them as hazardous waste, a gardener can naturally remove those metals. In a recent trial in NYC, Mugwort (Artimesia vulgaris) did an especially good job with a wide range of contaminants. Indian mustard took down arsenic, cadmium, lead and radionuclides.  Even the humble and beautiful sunflower performed admirably.  Of course, this made me wonder, what do you do with all the

contaminated plant material? Are there incinerators that take such things? Or is it all dumped somewhere else to make the mess someone else’s problem? A quick google search brings up some mentions of burning it in commercial Thermal Power Plants where they have the kind of equipment to take care of pollutants. Other mentions of mining companies offering unused tunnels as dumping grounds.

There’s also the option of excavation and removal of all the dirt, then the trucking in of new dirt, but that’s a limited proposition for most people, due to the cost. Or the work involved in doing it DIY. And you can’t burn dirt, so where do you take it? The underground vault in the New Mexico salt mine? Oh, wait, I’m sorry, that place is already leaking. What an f-ing disaster.

I guess that the best solution is to test any soil before you take possession of it. Don’t put yourself in the position of trying to clean up someones terrible mess.

Has everyone done a soil test on their garden? Anybody find anything interesting?

- Calamity Jane

On a related note, these seed savers are Definitely bracing for TEOTWAWKI. Check out this seed vault.