Saturday, July 24, 2010

Home Gardens - is your soil full of lead?




So a few weeks ago, I decided to come up with a few projects that my three year old and I could do together in the yard during summer. He helped me clean the gutters (he stayed on the ground with a little sweeper), replaced the light bulbs (he handed me the new light bulbs) and we planted a vegetable garden. To my amazement (and lack of green thumb) we planted the seeds about one month ago and we already have zucchini the size of my shoe! We were thrilled to pick them and eat them as part of our attempt to get our child to eat veggies when a friend of ours asked if we tested the soil. Test the soil? Who thinks of that? We just wanted to do a fun project...now I have to test the soil. Well, she got us thinking...we did plant the garden next to the garage, but it was in our backyard - and we're sure that it's been a backyard at least since the 1920's when the house was built. Well, now I'm paranoid, so we're sending the soil off - and not eating the veggies just yet. We're sending the soil to Timberleaf Soil Testing out of Murrieta, CA. Apparently you put some soil in a ziploc bag and send it off. For about $60 they'll test for all sorts of bad for you items like lead and arsenic and other things. I've been told they get back to you in less than one week - maybe in time for us to eat our veggies! We'll let you know the fate of our garden as soon as we know!

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