Am I being paranoid?

[Silentrunning]

Yesterday my wife and I took a little trip and started talking about the garden for this summer. As I have stated, my soil is just clay so I have been amending it with everything I can put in it. My composts are not yet mature enough to supply my needs. My main additions have been leaves, grass clippings, wood shavings and manure. Lots of manure. I realize that the soil is going to be hot and the Ph may not be optimal but first I have to get it to have some ability to hold moisture.
Now for my question - should I only plant vegetables that are going to be cooked in my new garden? My wife is concerned about such things as eColi. Vegetables such as peppers and tomatoes could easily bring contaminates to the table since they are eaten raw. I would like to get everyone's input on this.

 

[Chuck]

Yesterday my wife and I took a little trip and started talking about the garden for this summer. As I have stated, my soil is just clay so I have been amending it with everything I can put in it. My composts are not yet mature enough to supply my needs. My main additions have been leaves, grass clippings, wood shavings and manure. Lots of manure. I realize that the soil is going to be hot and the Ph may not be optimal but first I have to get it to have some ability to hold moisture.
Now for my question - should I only plant vegetables that are going to be cooked in my new garden? My wife is concerned about such things as eColi. Vegetables such as peppers and tomatoes could easily bring contaminates to the table since they are eaten raw. I would like to get everyone's input on this.

A good washing is all you need to do. The eColi horror stories you hear about are caused by fertilizer runoff from ruminant animals that have been grain fed instead of grass fed.

 

[Silentrunning]

A good washing is all you need to do. The eColi horror stories you hear about are caused by fertilizer runoff from ruminant animals that have been grain fed instead of grass fed.

Thanks Chuck. What about root vegetables like turnips, onions or carrots?

 

[Chuck]

Thanks Chuck. What about root vegetables like turnips, onions or carrots?

Remember about 15-20 years ago when an organic spinach farm was flooded and was downstream of a cattle feed lot in California? Bunch of folks died and the spinach was distributed over the entire US? The bad strain of eColi from the cow manure was all over the spinach. It was supposed to have been cleaned but either wasn't or not thoroughly. I am not saying that you cannot get the bad strain of eColi (I think it's name is something like .00157) but it is very rare. I wouldn't use fresh manure of any type and that is what causes eColi. There are literally hundreds of strains of the eColi bacteria. We all have it in our digestive systems but the bad eColi only comes from ingesting raw manure from ruminants. There are other bad strains of eColi that we as humans transmit such as hepatitis A. It comes from ingesting human fecal matter but not all humans can transmit it. The same thing goes for cattle and its manure. Just wash your vegetables before eating them raw and you have nothing to worry about.

 

[Tjohn]

Anything bacterial would only be on the outside of vegetables, as they only take up nutrients, not whole foods. Chuck is right, just wash them and everything will be fine.