Michelle Obama's toxic veggie nightmare: White House organic garden polluted with sludge

daily finance ^ | 7/31/2009 | Alex Salkever

[milwguy]

When First Lady Michelle Obama planted an organic vegetable garden on the White House lawn in March 2009, she hoped to both set an example of healthy eating and to grow tasty edibles for her daughters and husband. But Michelle's organic dream has been dashed by a nasty toxic legacy lurking in the soils of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It turns out that a previous Presidential gardening team had used sewage sludge for fertilizer

[GnuHere]

Give them a “Clunker Garden” rebate!
More J. Crew clothes for Chelly and the girls!

[Cheetahcat]

Maybe algore in his quest to be one with the earth was using the lawn like a Mexican restroom. She is less than an Idiot all those resources one call and a truck load of Potting soil would have appeared,Whatever she tried to grow would be twice as big provided the growing beds were properly done..

[Jeff Chandler]

There is nothing at all wrong with using activated sludge to fertilize landscaping. It’s just not advisable for produce.

[freebird5850]

I wouldn’t use railroad ties. I did that for one of my wifes’ flower garden. When it gets hot the creosote leeches out and gets all over your clothes and the bottom of your shoes. When the wind blows just right you can smell them from 50 ft away. It’s gross and they are coming out this fall. they are also tearing out any piers out here that have pilings that contain creosote.

[freebird5850]

“Sounds like Michelle found her excuse to bail out of tending a garden after she got her photo ops in.”

Yeah it cuts in on here boozin time.

[freebird5850]

here=her

[Jeff Chandler]

They could easily get some landscape timbers or railroad ties and do a raised bed.

Or they could used redwood beams produced from old growth trees.

[6ppc]

the plot has highly elevated levels of lead averaging 93 parts per million.

So the rose garden is now a Super Fund site?

[AnAmericanMother]

They quit using the creosote in the RR ties because of environmental concerns - now they're using something else that doesn't leach and doesn't smell bad.

Of course, the ties rot a lot faster - we're going to have to replace ours soon.

Landscape timbers are a little easier to get hold of, but more expensive.

[freebird5850]

Oh yeah you are right, I was just trying to point out the misery of using the old type. I stepped on one and then made a stain on the carpet in the living room. I forget what I used to get “most” of it up.

[AnAmericanMother]

The old solvents (that you can’t buy anymore either) work best. We have a case of the good stuff squirrelled away and only use it in emergencies. When we built our house, we had a big jug of Chlordane, and we followed right behind the termite man while he was putting down the stuff that doesn’t work . . . .

[petitfour]

The article links to a MotherJones article that says the practice of fertilizing with sludge at the White House started in the late 1980s and continued during the Clinton years. But they weren’t getting their food from the sludge soil. If I recall correctly, the WH chefs during the Clinton and GWB years had rooftop gardens. Laura Bush liked her jalapenos!

I am really surprised about this gardening thing. You would think that these people would have brought in “organic” soil that had been baked and cleared of the bad stuff before starting an organic garden. You would think that the WH has a gardener on staff who would be aware of what is in the soil at the WH. You would think that Mrs. Obama would have done research on gardening and/or asked some expert gardeners. You can’t just plow up the grass and start an organic garden. Even I know that, and I’m a city girl!

[AnAmericanMother]

You would think that Mrs. Obama would have done research on gardening and/or asked some expert gardeners.

You would think. But that assumes that she really WANTED to have an organic food garden. She didn't, of course. She grew up in the city and thinks that food comes from the grocery store in plastic bags. She just wanted the P.R.

[AnAmericanMother]

The use of redwood in direct contact with soil is not recommended. :-D

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Michelle Obama's toxic veggie nightmare: White House organic garden polluted with sludge

Hey, but the nutrients are the same as non-organic food! So, Michelle & Family should continue to eat those "tasty edibles".

[Jeff Chandler]

The use of redwood in direct contact with soil is not recommended.

Okay then cedar.

[birddog]

Also, stay away from pressure treated wood. The chemicals in that leach out and get into the plants. We used 12 wide inch untreated boards. They lasted for 6 years - not great, but long enough..

[AnAmericanMother]

Worse and worse!

When we bought this house, the former owner (affectionately known to us as "Mr. Toad" because he had similar delusions of grandeur without any practical sense at all) had built the entire back deck of cedar. Bad idea. First time we looked at the property our real estate agent fell through the deck. Fortunately she was a diminutive lady and my husband snagged her under the arms before she fell ALL the way through.

We patched and replaced boards for awhile, then just gave up and rebuilt the whole thing in pressure treated, which is how it should have been done in the first place. And no contact with the soil (concrete footings with metal post brackets poured in).

[Jeff Chandler]

[Jeff Chandler]

Also, stay away from pressure treated wood.

Copper sulphate.