Can I eat this, entire garden edition

June 20, 2021 2:28 PM

I planted an entire balcony garden. Then my neighbors restarted their balcony metal sanding project today and now my plants and planters are covered in a fine layer of paint dust. The dust has multiple times tested negative for lead—I previously tested chips of all the paint colors with LeadCheck, and today tested the dust—but I don't know what else is in it. Is there any chance I'll be able to eat any of this?

It was going so well. Plants currently growing in the garden that now have paint dust all over their leaves: radish, carrot, kale, spinach, tomato plants, dill, cilantro, Thai basil, basil, bok choy, quick choy, cat grass, onion sprouts, rosemary, French brocade marigolds, lemon balm, shiso, bell pepper sprouts, pumpkin plant, and broccoli.

I can think of some steps I might take to remediate this situation—talk to the neighbors or the building manager (like he'll care), document the situation, send soil to be tested, maybe take out the existing plants that have been growing all spring and the top layer of dirt and plant new ones, sweep and rewash the balcony. But it all feels impossible and overwhelming. I'm not even sure if it'll be possible to regrow some of what I have in the heat of summer. I'm also not sure if I need to resort to that yet.

My questions:

1. Do you think it's possible to get any of this clean enough to eat what's there? Or should I consider it a loss right now?

2. NYC has a university soil testing lab that will test for lead, but I'm worried more now about other ingredients in the paint (though it never hurts to double-check). Can anyone recommend a comprehensive soil testing service you've used that's as easy as using a provided kit and shipping with a prepaid label? (I'm not sure I'm up for more than that.)

3. Should I just keep watering this while I figure out next steps and testing, or is that more likely to contaminate lower layers of the soil? I'm trying to decide if I should just give up now and let it all die off before clearing off the top layer of everything and starting over.

I know it's just a garden, but I'm feeling really upset and heartbroken about this right now. Loss of any kind hits me really hard after the past year, and keeping up with this (rather than letting it die off like I did last year) was one of the ways I was doing self-care. So be kind!

posted by limeonaire to Home & Garden (18 answers total)

Honestly, if you're in NYC, your plants are ALREADY covered in all kinds of particulates you don't want to think about, as are the insides of your lungs. Just eat the stuff. Wash it first.
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:35 PM on June 20, 2021

I wouldn’t let kids or pregnant people eat it, but I would eat it all.
posted by 8603 at 2:37 PM on June 20, 2021

I should have added: you could try removing and replacing the top couple inches of soil once the sanding is over.
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:48 PM on June 20, 2021

I'd be most worried about the soil, so I think it's smart to test that for lead, and yet, replace the top couple of inches. I'd definitely soak all the plants/herbs for a few minutes and scrub what can be scrubbed, and discard any of the bottom leaves that spent a long time resting on the soil. You may find this brochure from the EPA on urban gardening useful - lead is only possible containment they list for paint, which to me suggests that whatever else is in there isn't harmful in small quantities.
posted by coffeecat at 2:53 PM on June 20, 2021

Just to address one thing, the plants are planted really thickly (this is an NYC balcony garden we're talking about, so I went for density), so I'm not sure how feasible it is to remove the top couple inches of soil without killing the plants. Do you mean, for smaller plants, take them out, rinse in water, and replant?

I appreciate all the advice so far. If anyone has a line on testing services or experience with a paint dust situation specifically, that'd rule. Thanks!
posted by limeonaire at 3:10 PM on June 20, 2021

Oregon State has some tips. Lead is a concern, but it was already a concern before the recent sanding project. You could test the soil for lead to alleviate this concern.

Washington State says that plants don't like lead either, and except for some root vegetables don't take in a lot of lead.

I don't think your risk has changed much since before the balcony work. After the dust settles, so to speak, you should wash the leaves and harvest when you're ready. Next year, consider replacing the top soil layer with compost if it's practical.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 3:16 PM on June 20, 2021

It was going so well

It still is, boss! Hard agree with showbiz_liz that you're surrounded by nasties all the time with city living and you're probably fine. No lead showing up on a home test is a really good sign.

If I was in this situation, and caught the dust quickly after it happened, I would just vacuum up the top inch or less of soil, and then party hard. If you've watered a bunch since it, i'd consider doing a bit more, but you're probably fine.

Getting your grubbies on a small hobby air compressor could help dust the plants off (just be careful and go slow with the air; you could do some damage if you're not careful). You could use canned air too if thats markedly easier.

The only red flag I see in your list is the spinach. It sequesters heavy metals really effectively (some people plant it specifically to remove traces of heavy metals in beds). I would probably pass on eating those, but know that they're probably remediating the situation in those beds on their own this season. But really, if the dust tests neg for lead, I'd brontosaurus-time those greens so hard.
posted by furnace.heart at 3:48 PM on June 20, 2021

the plants are planted really thickly (this is an NYC balcony garden we're talking about, so I went for density), so I'm not sure how feasible it is to remove the top couple inches of soil without killing the plants.

How thickly planted are we taking exactly? Can you share a photo? At least some of the plants you describe need to be spaced out to survive to maturity…
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:59 PM on June 20, 2021

This is a photo of one corner from last night. (This end is prettier, because there's plastic up on the other end of the balcony, which unfortunately came loose a couple times and hasn't done as much as it should've to protect it.) I just got some of these quick choy and bok choy greens pictured in front here started, and I was gonna eat them like microgreens or baby spinach.

I decided I wasn't up for a ton of transplanting this year, so I'd just see how it went, even though for sure, you're supposed to space them out more. They were both an experiment, because I'm trying out some bolt-resistant varieties for summer. But yeah, they're like a carpet of leaves in a couple containers, and in some others, they've only just sprouted.

The spinach in the back there has bolted, so those are the big spikies there. I was still gonna eat the bolted part, heh, before this, 'cause it tasted fine, but that was probably the end of that spinach variety for the summer, and I was thinking about replanting that area.

The tomato plants in the corner are a little crowded, but not too bad, and I was gonna put up a frame this weekend after pruning back all the giant kale gone wild, cutting back the bolted spinach, and pulling the bolted radishes (which are already mature). Then I was going to replant two-thirds of the planter, so I guess I could still clear that all out and take some soil with it in those areas when I do, and maybe, per y'all's advice, just wash off the greens real good. (I was going to saute the radish greens and make salads with the kale and spinach.)

In the other big planter (not pictured), the broccoli also bolted and the other variety of bok choy I have bolted and died off, so I was going to just eat the broccoli leaves and then replant that area too. (Brassicas really have hated the heat and the crowding, of course.) The pumpkin plant in that one is doing well, though. The pepper plants in that planter were a little shaded and not growing well and I was hoping that situation would be addressed when I cleared out the bolted broccoli and bok choy next to them and replanted.

The carrots in both planters have been doing fine, and the herbs didn't mind being planted thickly. I could pull the little carrots and start some new ones in those areas of the big planters, though. I was going to make carrot greens pesto or similar, but I don't have to do that.

I knew I had some gardening work coming to address all the stuff that bolted and/or reached maturity already, and I was actually planning on dealing with a lot of that today. But then I went out and found that layer of dust.

I guess I could just wait and see when they finally cut it out with the sanding, then clear out, wash, and eat like two-thirds of what's in each of the big planters and take soil away when I do. As for the many smaller containers, most of which have just sprouted, I don't really want to transplant the herbs and leaves if I can help it, especially because some of those varieties tend to take over larger containers when given space. But maybe there's less soil surface to worry about in the ones that are planted so thickly. There's lots of exposed soil in the small herb containers where I just started new sprouts a couple weeks ago, though, which sucks.

In the meantime, maybe I can find a test kit to order and get that under way. Sigh.
posted by limeonaire at 4:30 PM on June 20, 2021

Just wash anything you're about to eat. This is a good idea pretty much anywhere; air pollution is not politely staying away from anybody's gardens, and a great deal of the country's produce is grown in wildfire country (which is not just burned trees, there's buildings and cars and trash and stuff in that particulate). For greens you can gently swish them in a sink with a drop of Dawn and then rinse with cold water and a big glug of vinegar.

If stuff is planted densely I would suggest just carrying on as you've gone. Depending on how long you think the neighbors' project is going to go on, you could make a tent of old sheets or cheap shower curtains while work is going on, just be careful not to cook anything under something like a plastic shower curtain. This would help with additional accumulation.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:38 PM on June 20, 2021

Good call on the tenting. I did put row cover mesh over the plants this afternoon after I discovered the dust, though it kind of felt like closing the barn door after the cows got out, just in case it helped keep off even a little more dust.
posted by limeonaire at 4:42 PM on June 20, 2021

Just FYI, the best way to wash greens like this is to fill the sink with water, dump them in, and swish them around. Lift them out, drain the sink, clean the sink, repeat twice more.
posted by bq at 6:19 PM on June 20, 2021

the best way to wash greens like this is to fill the sink with water

We do exactly this but using a salad spinner rather than the entire sink -- built-in colander, and less grody than our sink.
posted by heatherlogan at 6:28 PM on June 20, 2021

I’d wash off the veggies and eat them. But honestly even in a worst case scenario, if you decide not to, this is a gorgeous garden. You have a stunning mix of colour and form and your close planting makes for a beautiful mix. I’ve got a big yard and my vegetable garden is nowhere near as pretty as yours! This was worth it even for the aesthetics. Bravo.
posted by Cuke at 7:40 PM on June 20, 2021

As an NYC gardener I have been doing plenty of research on heavy metal contamination. My understanding is that plant uptake of heavy metals from soil is much less than you'd think, which is one reason bioremediation doesn't work -- almost all plants selectively avoid heavy metals from the soil rather than taking them up. When plants do take them up, the roots get the most, followed by stems, leaves, flowers, and finally fruits. And with soil lead contamination, the soil dust is a bigger risk than the plants themselves. So another vote for wash well and eat.

The other thing to worry about of course is organic toxins like PCBs, benzene, etc. I know less about these!
posted by goingonit at 7:42 PM on June 20, 2021

...and a VERY brief lit review suggests that plants also exclude PCBs and Benzene pretty well, with the exception of carrot peels. Eat 'em!
posted by goingonit at 8:11 PM on June 20, 2021

Just avoid watering the dust into the soil. Dust/shake/blow all the dust off the plants now -- I know it will be difficult, you can't possibly get everything, but do your level best.

Then, yes, get as much off of the soil as you can. If it were me, I might get a few vacuum cleaner bags and use the vacuum cleaner to remove the dust from the top.

*** Do all this before it rains *** -- if you can't, then just keep the rain off the plants until you can. And water.

Once that dust gets watered, it and the toxins will go down into the soil. Sure, maybe uptake isn't going to impress someone trying to bioengineer a miracle cleanup strategy, but it's still not something you want to eat. Plus, once they're wetted into the soil, even the parts that stay on the top surface will be much harder to remove.

While they're dry, though, the vacuum cleaner should get most of them even if you can't probe between every stem.

Then I'd remove as much of the top layer of soil as I could. The vacuum might handle this also, at the same time.

THEN I might consider putting some soil on top.
posted by amtho at 11:00 PM on June 20, 2021

Your garden looks absolutely beautiful!

I worry about a lot of things, but I wouldn't worry about this. Just wash everything really well and eat it.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 3:39 AM on June 21, 2021