is this a problem location for a garden?

Last summer we painted a bunch of rooms in our house. Without really thinking about it, we rinsed brushes in our yard. This spring, I have decided to plant a garden.... in the area of the yard where we rinsed brushes last year. It was plain old latex semi-gloss type paint. Is this a problem? Has enough time gone by that the paint residue won't affect vegetables grown there? Or is that spot ruined forever?

[Soliloquy]

Hmm, my only concern is that it's a vegetable garden and you'll be eating the fruits of the plants that soak up what's in that soil.

How much paint are we talking? Did you do ALL the washing of the brushes in that one spot or just give them a quick rinse in the yard? Another factor is how much rain you get in your area. Where I live, we get so much rain that it would probably be gone by now.

If it were me, I'd pick a different spot, but I'm paranoid. It took me several weeks to finally decide whether I could buy strawberries that weren't organic. (I did and they're delicious.) Is that the only spot or just your preferred spot?

[milkmommy]

I asked my gardener husband he says the ground might me poisoned enough the veggies won't grow anyway. He suggests eaither finding a diffrent spot or working in a lot of compose and doing a raised bed. He says a diffrent spot would probbly be better.

Deanna

Yeah, that's my concern too. We more or less did all the washing of the brushes there, so there's a considerable amount of paint in the ground. The problem is that this is basically the best spot in the yard. We have a lot of trees and a fairly small yard, so the places where a garden make sense and still leave room for kids to play but still get enough sun are few. There is one other spot that will *probably* work, though I am concerned about the amount of sun... but perhaps I will take the risk.

Originally Posted by LisaM

Hmm, my only concern is that it's a vegetable garden and you'll be eating the fruits of the plants that soak up what's in that soil.

How much paint are we talking? Did you do ALL the washing of the brushes in that one spot or just give them a quick rinse in the yard? Another factor is how much rain you get in your area. Where I live, we get so much rain that it would probably be gone by now.

If it were me, I'd pick a different spot, but I'm paranoid. It took me several weeks to finally decide whether I could buy strawberries that weren't organic. (I did and they're delicious.) Is that the only spot or just your preferred spot?

Originally Posted by milkmommy

I asked my gardener husband he says the ground might me poisoned enough the veggies won't grow anyway. He suggests eaither finding a diffrent spot or working in a lot of compose and doing a raised bed. He says a diffrent spot would probbly be better.

Deanna

That's something I hadn't considered. My sister had suggested swapping out dirt with another place in the yard, which I could do but it sounds like a lot of work. A raised bed might work. How raised is raised -- how much dirt/compost are we talking? 6", 12", more? (I'm fairly new to gardening so I don't know the basics like this )

I would get a soil test and talk to an expert about it. You could also try posting over at gardenweb to see if anyone there has specific info. I don't think I'd take a chance on planting there, though. At least not for a couple years. Raised beds would be great, and moving the soil would work too, but that would be a TON of work. You could do some small raised beds. I would suggest at least 24 inches in height so that the roots wouldn't go down very far into the existing soil. Or container gardens, that would be good.

BTW, are you sure there's no other spot in your yard? 6 hrs of sun a day should be enough, depending upon what you are planting.

Originally Posted by Tessera

You could try just container gardening this year, and give the area another year. But I don't know if it will still be polluted. You might want to have your soil tested and see.

There's tons of books on raised bed gardening, but I don't know if that will truly get you away from the toxins. I don't know the exact height, but they tend to be bordered by a "2 x 4" or so.

Bummer . . .

I was going to suggest container gardening as well.
Vicki