Staying healthy in the garden
Spring beauties keep us company while we work in the garden. From the top: black willow; the lenten rose, or hellebore; and hepatica. Turning over the garden inevitably leads to a host of spring complaints, including pulled muscles, sunburns, and insect bites. Here is a short list of do's and don't to stay healthy this season:
1. Prevent muscle soreness. Stretch, do yoga, switch sides when raking, and use wheelbarrows to carry heavy things.
2. Prevent infection from the soil. Wear gloves, and always wash hands before eating or drinking.
3. Keep your tetanus shots up to date.
4. Don't forget the sunscreen, even on cloudy days.
5. Check for ticks after working outdoors.
6. Test your soil for heavy metal contamination.
7. Treat ALL pesticides like the toxic chemicals they are, even organic pesticides. Read ALL the labels carefully, and learn more about organic pesticides
posted by Nini at 5:33 PM
2 Comments:
It's all well and good to say check your soil for metals, but after we found heavy lead content in our yard, no one could tell us what to do about it. Sunflowers, Swiss chard, and others can reduce lead content by 300 points over ten years, but who wants to wait that long to plant a garden? Had to excavate our entire yard and replace with other soil. We had lead content of 590 (300 being the top for moderate). Is anyone else on Munjoy Hill aware of this predicament?
If you want to send me an email at ninimaine@aol.com I can talk with you in detail about lead on the Hill and strategies for dealing with it. Yes it is a well-known problem on the Hill--your results aren't the worst I've seen. The lead problem is what led me to join the North St community garden for food production.
It is probably not a good idea to encourage young children to play in dirt with high lead content. By the way, the soil at the new school tested safe. The lead in our yards is due mostly to old house paint flaking off into the soil.
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