One word: E. Coli
Well I guess that’s two words. The neighbor diagonal to our backyard has a pipe that likes to overflow. Apparently. It overflowed when we had a big storm surge and our backyard was flooded. The city took some tests and there was high E coli levels.
Once the sun hits the top layer of soil after a couple hours, the E coli will be killed off by the UV rays, but the underlayer can be contaminated for months! So that takes away half of our backyard for planting food.
Our side yard had no flooding and there’s nowhere near the contamination zone so our raised bed that we do tomatoes in should be fine. Also the little area where we do snap peas should be fine.
My neighbor has a row of grapes that come every year and she lets us eat as much as you want. So for the month of September the kids gorge themselves on grapes and those are still fine
Thankfully our raspberries are fine. They’re on the complete other side of the yard from the contamination
We have this area that’s already 3/4 of the way fenced off from the chickens but it’s solidly in the contaminated area. So what I think I’m going to do is get a couple above bed, just kind of garden planters. The cheapest ones I can find and some cheap trellises to do cucumbers and a few other vining plants, not 100% sure what yet.
Thankfully garlic doesn’t have super long roots so these ones planted in the above bed gardens should be okay.
My husband actually cleaned this area out about 2 years ago. Took all the dirt out and we never refilled it between being pregnant and having newborns and babies. But this year I think I will put more cardboard down and fill it for a raised bed garden again and that should be good to plant in.
We won’t be planting any root vegetables this year just to be extra extra safe.
We are also inquiring about getting a permit to tie into the city storm drain to stop the flooding in our yard but is prolific and happens every winter so hopefully that’s a process that will be happening this summer as well.
I will keep you updated.
Trailing the blonde 