Be Careful Where you get Compost, Mulch and Manure

 

Clopyralid_Pea_Plant_Damage
This pea plant shows the cupped leaves that indicate the soil contains damaging levels of a potent herbicide.

Last fall, our report on manure, hay and compost contaminated with Milestone herbicide (aka aminopyralid), made by Dow AgroSciences) told of 2008’s tragic summer in the United Kingdom, where thousands of gardeners lost their tomatoes, beans and other sensitive crops to manure and hay laced with this potent, highly persistent herbicide. This year the problem has hit home, with U.S. gardeners, organic farmers and commercial growers reporting damaged or lost tomato crops from Milestone contamination. (Aminopyralid is also sold under the brand name of Forefront.)

Why now? “We had the perfect storm to set up the situation,” says Dr. Jeanine Davis, associate professor of horticulture at North Carolina State University and author of several recent extension service advisories about Milestone’s persistent toxicity.
The drought caused animal owners to buy hay trucked in from other areas, and at the same time many people created new vegetable gardens and bought contaminated compost, or hay to use as mulch.”

Davis is now receiving notices daily from growers and extension agents across the country who are seeing vegetables damaged by manure, hay or compost contaminated with Milestone. Tomatoes are highly sensitive; symptoms including curled, cupped leaves and wilting new growth are often misdiagnosed as a virus or disease problem. Continue reading →

Before you start a garden…Relax…Nobody Knows Anything.

Fresh!

Don’t let the details get in your way.

I wanted to give you a heads-up on why you should garden, and why you should also read through all the details with a certain detachment at first. There will seem to be way too much information in the beginning. All the charts, soil details, and time sensitive steps involved in planting a vegetable garden may make you feel like it is all just too confusing and make you want to give up before you start.

Relax. Most of this confusing stuff only happens in the beginning. Sure, there are some general principles that good food gardeners tend to follow, but Continue reading →

How to Start a Vegetable Garden

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First time gardeners face a list of choices that can be somewhat daunting at first. Where to begin? What do I plant? What tools do I need? (and on and on…) But if taken a step at a time and prioritized correctly, the process can be streamlined quite a bit.

I’d like to give a few pointers here on some general priorities for people who are looking for direction.

Do’s and Don’ts

Location is one of the first concerns. Make sure it is a sunny space that receives at least six hours of sunlight per day, or more, without any major obstructions. The placement should be as close as possible to your house or kitchen to make it more likely to use the space for growing and make it easier to move produce from the garden to the house. But don’t locate it close to the house at the cost of sun exposure. Think about how close it is to your water source as well. The closer to a main water spigot, the less walking and hose lengths for you over the season.

Drainage is something to look at as you decide the site location. Gardening is harder on a hillside or on undulating ground, although it can work. You should preferably choose a flat site with good drainage around it, where it won’t get too waterlogged or too dry.

Continue reading →