Looking back to January 2020, most of us would have never imagined the year we’ve had. All of our best laid plans went away and instead we socially distanced, scavenged for toilet paper, and canceled events and vacations. But one thing that wasn’t canceled was gardening. By June, garden retail sales had increased 8.79% over the average, a big jump for a trend that was already showing increased gardening over the last few years. Wanting to grow food to ensure a safe food supply was one reason gardening increased this year, but it also served as away for people break the boredom of being stuck at home. … Continue reading this article “Planning Ahead (in a pandemic) for Vegetable Garden Success”
Month: December 2020
The complicated issue of heavy metals in residential soils, part 2: How plant species and environmental variables complicate the issue
Last month we discussed the various heavy metals that might end up in your garden and landscape soils. Today we’ll consider how different factors can alter heavy metal uptake by plants.
First of all, let’s consider plant uptake. Plant roots can either accumulate a particular metal or exclude it. If they exclude it, that’s the end of the story, (though it’s still a soil contaminant).… Continue reading this article “The complicated issue of heavy metals in residential soils, part 2: How plant species and environmental variables complicate the issue”