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I sent a soil sample to the state lab a couple of weeks ago, and got the report back today. The main point is that the lead level is significantly elevated. They recommend a "sorbed lead test," and give links for information about that test, but I may just decide to take the easy way out and not grow vegetables in the back yard.
The alternative is to leave the back yard as a lawn where the downstairs neighbors barbecue and I sometimes sit outside with a book. (If I did grow vegetables, it would be a cucumber vine trained along one fence: there'd still be plenty of room for the grill and a table.)
Either way, I can plant some cucumbers in the raised/improved bed alongside the house, though it would have to compete with the grapevine, which, left to itself, grows down from the arbor and blocs the path, covers the fence next to the driveway, and makes inroads into the back yard. (The vine is too young to have produced fruit yet.) There are white violets in that area, but they'd be done flowering by the time the cucumber started to spread out. The driveway does get used, but I think I could control, guide, or cut back the vines and keep them out of the way of cars.
More lettuces in the front yard, and I think more tomatoes, and I might decide to throw caution to the winds and plant some cucumber (or melon?) in the front yard, on the side near the front door, meaning further from where this year's vines were. (This year's cucumbers developed a bad case of mildew, despite being a resistant variety. This apparently makes it a bad idea to plant cucumbers, melons, or squash there in the following year, but "bad idea" means it might not work, not that any fruit we did get would make us sick.)
The crocuses I mentioned in yesterday's post are along the back fence (planted by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cattitude); a couple in the planter where I had the basil this summer; and in random spots in the front yard. I had put a few into the lawn a few weeks ago, since I like that "naturalized" look.
The alternative is to leave the back yard as a lawn where the downstairs neighbors barbecue and I sometimes sit outside with a book. (If I did grow vegetables, it would be a cucumber vine trained along one fence: there'd still be plenty of room for the grill and a table.)
Either way, I can plant some cucumbers in the raised/improved bed alongside the house, though it would have to compete with the grapevine, which, left to itself, grows down from the arbor and blocs the path, covers the fence next to the driveway, and makes inroads into the back yard. (The vine is too young to have produced fruit yet.) There are white violets in that area, but they'd be done flowering by the time the cucumber started to spread out. The driveway does get used, but I think I could control, guide, or cut back the vines and keep them out of the way of cars.
More lettuces in the front yard, and I think more tomatoes, and I might decide to throw caution to the winds and plant some cucumber (or melon?) in the front yard, on the side near the front door, meaning further from where this year's vines were. (This year's cucumbers developed a bad case of mildew, despite being a resistant variety. This apparently makes it a bad idea to plant cucumbers, melons, or squash there in the following year, but "bad idea" means it might not work, not that any fruit we did get would make us sick.)
The crocuses I mentioned in yesterday's post are along the back fence (planted by
cattitude); a couple in the planter where I had the basil this summer; and in random spots in the front yard. I had put a few into the lawn a few weeks ago, since I like that "naturalized" look.![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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P.
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I also get mildew on any cucurbits I grow -- but then, you get more sun in front than I get anywhere. This year I actually got a reasonable number of zucchini before mildew shut it down. (Why does mildew still happen in a drought?)
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