Unless the soil was previously a rubbish tip, a chemical factory, or owned by weirdo who liked to water their garden with leaded petrol, the amount of lead in the soil is likely to be minuscule. (And other heavy metals too. It would just whatever the background level is, which is fine for food, all soils our farmed food is grown in have naturally present trace metals to various degrees). But if it’s not in your comfort zone, then that’s ok! Just grow the pumpkins for ornamental value, or learning a new skill, or still life subjects for your art, or providing flowers for pollinators, and eventually compost for the garden to keep the worms happy and soil healthy. The goal doesn’t have to be food production, it’s still enjoyable to watch things grow.
Thanks, my goal is mainly food production though :(
I started doing this to give veg to a friend and their family and hope to expand to give some to a community pantry
Edit: I just used the last of my potting mix to plant them out into some soy milk boxes with holes in the bottom. That should buy me some time to decide. There’s not much width but there is space for roots to grow down.
Most people would love to be gifted home grown veg, and would have zero concerns that it was grown in the ground. It would be the default expectation. But for your friend you could always just describe how they were grown and ask them if they are cool with it? For the pantry, could you label it as local home grown, so then people know when they are taking it. Sorry that doesn’t really answer your question, Thirnburys idea of putting something in the ground might be the other option.
Unless the soil was previously a rubbish tip, a chemical factory, or owned by weirdo who liked to water their garden with leaded petrol, the amount of lead in the soil is likely to be minuscule. (And other heavy metals too. It would just whatever the background level is, which is fine for food, all soils our farmed food is grown in have naturally present trace metals to various degrees). But if it’s not in your comfort zone, then that’s ok! Just grow the pumpkins for ornamental value, or learning a new skill, or still life subjects for your art, or providing flowers for pollinators, and eventually compost for the garden to keep the worms happy and soil healthy. The goal doesn’t have to be food production, it’s still enjoyable to watch things grow.
Thanks, my goal is mainly food production though :(
I started doing this to give veg to a friend and their family and hope to expand to give some to a community pantry
Edit: I just used the last of my potting mix to plant them out into some soy milk boxes with holes in the bottom. That should buy me some time to decide. There’s not much width but there is space for roots to grow down.
Most people would love to be gifted home grown veg, and would have zero concerns that it was grown in the ground. It would be the default expectation. But for your friend you could always just describe how they were grown and ask them if they are cool with it? For the pantry, could you label it as local home grown, so then people know when they are taking it. Sorry that doesn’t really answer your question, Thirnburys idea of putting something in the ground might be the other option.
Good idea. If it wasn’t for the past things I would be less concerned