Are we a heavy metal city?
Most media are reporting on Craig Sauvé’s intention, launched Thursday, to have city council vote that we’re a heavy metal city.
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Ian 18:04 on 2019-04-13 Permalink
Well there’s certainly a lot of heavy metals pollution in my borough, what with all leaching off the asphalt streets, the old quarries, the old incinerator, and filled in garbage dumps. (haha)
Chris 23:09 on 2019-04-13 Permalink
I’ve actually tested my soil, since I grow vegetables; in my case lead levels where high, but levels of other bad metals were ok.
Ian 17:54 on 2019-04-14 Permalink
Lead is kind of unavoidable in the city. Your best bet is container planting, 5 gallon pails are good for tomatoes and beans.
Chris 20:58 on 2019-04-14 Permalink
Another legacy of the automobile (specifically, its leaded gasoline). Fortunately, lead isn’t really uptaken by plant roots, and so it’s reasonably safe to eat non-root vegetables grown in such soil.
Ian 07:03 on 2019-04-15 Permalink
That is definitely not true of plants that take up a lot of water like tomatoes. It’s not just leaded gasoline, it’s the asphalt. I read somewhere or the other that if you are within 15 feet of asphalt or ever were, the soil is no good for anything juicy.
Chris 09:28 on 2019-04-15 Permalink
re: tomatoes, do you have a source? It doesn’t match what I found when I researched this a few years ago. ex: http://www.cwmi.css.cornell.edu/Arsenic-Lead-Uptake-McBride.pdf Maybe I’ll get an actual tomato tested this year.
But yeah, I use containers for most things.
Blork 11:35 on 2019-04-15 Permalink
I remember seeing a news report a couple of years ago about a family using their front lawn as a vegetable garden. There’s a shot where the dad is out there picking lettuce that’s growing about six feet from the sidewalk, with all these cars and trucks and buses whizzing by on the road. Not to mention the inevitable dogs that walk by and need to take a fragrant piss, plus idiot teenagers, etc. The guy was as happy as can be feeding this to his kids and I’m there thinking this is probably the most toxic garden I’ve ever seen.
Ian Rogers 12:42 on 2019-04-15 Permalink
@Chris you may be right, as I recall I read that advice in a Montreal newspaper some years back and unlike internet conversations newspaper articles tend to be weak on easy to check secondary sources. Squirrels eat most of my cherry tomatoes before they have a chance to ripen anyhow so in my case the point is certainly moot 😀
Chris 21:51 on 2019-04-15 Permalink
Goddamn squirrels! They are ravenous is my hood too, I harvest maybe 20% of the tomato fruit, they ruin the rest. I hope they die of lead poisoning. 🙂
dhomas 02:11 on 2019-04-16 Permalink
For me, it’s the cucumbers. Those dang squirrels chew off the top of the stem, then don’t even eat the cucumber itself! They just leave it there to rot, so I can find it and be sad. I think it’s some kind of psychological warfare.