Holy jeepers, do you ever live in a different world! Here- the ground my daffodils are in is still frozen like a rock; we still have old snowdrifts on the ground in shaded spots and on north slopes.
Evenso- spring IS in the air- we call them "birds". :-) Robins, bluebirds, etc, etc; back and singing everywhere.
OK Crunchy! Since you alerted me to the dangers of using rain barrel water from an asphalt shingled roof, I've got another question for you. What is the safest water can? I have just started my herb seedlings and I am using a plastic can. What is going to leech few if any toxic chemicals into the water I'm providing to my food plants? Thanks!
JenHarper - I suspect your best bet is a stainless steel watering can (the old school kind), although I can't imagine the water is sitting in there long enough to leach out anything that will get taken up by the plants.
Its getting colder every day and the Autumn colours are starting to show. My plants are dying back and I STILL have 2 bags of apples and a tree full to preserve in some way.
If your plastic can is leaching stuff- it's going to be organic molecules- which will mostly bind tightly to soil, and are pretty unlikely to wind up in your plants. And the soil will eat them in time. Not zero, but not much.
Stainless- really quite safe at ambient temps. If you were boiling acid water in it all day, a few chromium atoms would come out.
The old standard is galvanized; zinc coated. Really pretty safe. A little zinc may come out; particularly if your water is acid and in there long- but; zinc is a soil nutrient usually in short supply; I have it added to my fertilizer. And it's very immobile in soils, anyway. Again; not to worry.
The OLD old standard was- wood. Oak, cedar. Sounds like a business opportunity to me! "Green Buckets." no toxins.
My sinus's say that POLLEN is in the air.
ReplyDeleteHoly jeepers, do you ever live in a different world! Here- the ground my daffodils are in is still frozen like a rock; we still have old snowdrifts on the ground in shaded spots and on north slopes.
ReplyDeleteEvenso- spring IS in the air- we call them "birds". :-) Robins, bluebirds, etc, etc; back and singing everywhere.
Love the pictures! Your daffodils blow mine away...
ReplyDeleteI put in my spring veggies today and will be posting about it later on, but for now, I'm going to enjoy the sunny weather :)
OK Crunchy! Since you alerted me to the dangers of using rain barrel water from an asphalt shingled roof, I've got another question for you. What is the safest water can? I have just started my herb seedlings and I am using a plastic can. What is going to leech few if any toxic chemicals into the water I'm providing to my food plants? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteJenHarper - I suspect your best bet is a stainless steel watering can (the old school kind), although I can't imagine the water is sitting in there long enough to leach out anything that will get taken up by the plants.
ReplyDeleteIts getting colder every day and the Autumn colours are starting to show. My plants are dying back and I STILL have 2 bags of apples and a tree full to preserve in some way.
ReplyDeleteviv in nz
re: watering cans- I wouldn't worry very much.
ReplyDeleteIf your plastic can is leaching stuff- it's going to be organic molecules- which will mostly bind tightly to soil, and are pretty unlikely to wind up in your plants. And the soil will eat them in time. Not zero, but not much.
Stainless- really quite safe at ambient temps. If you were boiling acid water in it all day, a few chromium atoms would come out.
The old standard is galvanized; zinc coated. Really pretty safe. A little zinc may come out; particularly if your water is acid and in there long- but; zinc is a soil nutrient usually in short supply; I have it added to my fertilizer. And it's very immobile in soils, anyway. Again; not to worry.
The OLD old standard was- wood. Oak, cedar. Sounds like a business opportunity to me! "Green Buckets." no toxins.