Your Questions About Gardening

GardenersCardiff answers:

It is not. It is, however, part of “feel-good-ism.” It FEELS good to so it, but lends nothing to the earth’s so-called “sustainability.”

I made that last part up myself. – Thumper

GardenersCardiff answers:

Salmonella and Escherichia coli (or e.coli) are passed on to edible plants when manure (of any kind) has one or both bacteria and has not been properly composted but is used as fertilizer anyway. The bacterium goes into the soil and is taken up by the plants through vascular absorption (or systemically) and is INSIDE the plant and fruit or vegetable tissue – so the bacteria cannot be washed off.

If you use chemical fertilizers, none at all or properly heated manure compost – and there are any harmful organisms in the manure they will be killed by the heat (during proper heat composting) and using the compost is fine. You still should wash all your fruits and vegetables before consuming them ;-). I hope this information was helpful.

GardenersCardiff answers:

Depends on many things like how good the soil is and how much it costs you to water the plants. If you have to buy $75 worth of compost and fertilizer to grow….. Ultimately it would be cheaper to buy them in the store.

The point is this…. It is certainly no more expensive to grow your own tomatoes in most cases…. And the end product is VASTLY better than what you find in the store.

Vine ripened tomatoes are the best….. And you simply cannot find them in stores (because it is almost impossible to ship a ripe tomato…. So they pick them long before they are ripe to make sure they survive shipping….. And this results in tomatoes that taste like cardboard).