Please help! Did I poison my garden?! (Newbie)

[pinkpandagirl36]

Hello everyone!

I just started gardening a few days ago. I live in an apartment so I am trying to grow vegetables, herbs, and fruits in pots and various containers I have around the house. I had watched several videos on YouTube about successful home gardens and a common theme I found was the importance of lots of organic matter like humus, compost, and manure in the gardens. While many of these were small farms/gardens, they were in raised beds or planted in a space-maximizing way into the ground. I thought that the same principles for ground planting applied to pot planting since the how-to-get-started-in-potted-gardens info I found online focused on what kinds of plants to plant, how deep to put seeds, watering, etc., and mentioned nothing about differences between potted and in-ground gardening. So I went to Home Depot and picked up some potting soil, some Very Good Compost, and Scotts Manure and Humus. I went home and mixed all three together and filled my pots and planted my vegetables. I added some "red wrigglers" worms from Petco as well. Today I learned that manure has to be "cooked"? before it is safe to use for vegetables. I checked the back of the Scotts bag to make sure it was, and saw nothing about that, so I checked the website, and there was more information there than on the bag, including the warning to not use in pots. As I was trying to see if what I did was dangerous, I came across several mentions of Scotts here and the consensus seems to be that it is very very bad. Did I make a horrible mistake, and waste all the money and effort I spent on the plants, seeds, soil, compost, etc., for vegetables that are now tainted/ruined? Can I save this? Can I eat what grows in my pots? Some things are already sprouting, and others were transplants that have continued to grow as well. Any information about whether I can safely eat my vegetables, and how to improve the quality of my soil/garden is really appreciated! Thank you very much!!

 

[Chuck]

Hello everyone!

I just started gardening a few days ago. I live in an apartment so I am trying to grow vegetables, herbs, and fruits in pots and various containers I have around the house. I had watched several videos on YouTube about successful home gardens and a common theme I found was the importance of lots of organic matter like humus, compost, and manure in the gardens. While many of these were small farms/gardens, they were in raised beds or planted in a space-maximizing way into the ground. I thought that the same principles for ground planting applied to pot planting since the how-to-get-started-in-potted-gardens info I found online focused on what kinds of plants to plant, how deep to put seeds, watering, etc., and mentioned nothing about differences between potted and in-ground gardening. So I went to Home Depot and picked up some potting soil, some Very Good Compost, and Scotts Manure and Humus. I went home and mixed all three together and filled my pots and planted my vegetables. I added some "red wrigglers" worms from Petco as well. Today I learned that manure has to be "cooked"? before it is safe to use for vegetables. I checked the back of the Scotts bag to make sure it was, and saw nothing about that, so I checked the website, and there was more information there than on the bag, including the warning to not use in pots. As I was trying to see if what I did was dangerous, I came across several mentions of Scotts here and the consensus seems to be that it is very very bad. Did I make a horrible mistake, and waste all the money and effort I spent on the plants, seeds, soil, compost, etc., for vegetables that are now tainted/ruined? Can I save this? Can I eat what grows in my pots? Some things are already sprouting, and others were transplants that have continued to grow as well. Any information about whether I can safely eat my vegetables, and how to improve the quality of my soil/garden is really appreciated! Thank you very much!!

Being ruined is up to you. The manure you bought is safe to use with vegetables, BUT, the reason it said not to use it in pots is that most containers are in or very close to the inside of the home and there will be an odor, sometimes just about overpowering.

Cooked means dried and composted or pasteurized. How much it was composted is up to the manufacturer. Scotts and Miracle Grow products are not the best of products but I haven't heard of them killing anyone..............yet. In the future I think you should forget about manure and instead get a bag of good organic fertilizer such as Espoma, Fox Farms etc. It will be manure based but, it will also have other essential nutrients as well and there is very little odor if any.

 

[pinkpandagirl36]

Being ruined is up to you. The manure you bought is safe to use with vegetables, BUT, the reason it said not to use it in pots is that most containers are in or very close to the inside of the home and there will be an odor, sometimes just about overpowering.

Cooked means dried and composted. How much it was composted is up to the manufacturer. Scotts and Miracle Grow products are not the best of products but I haven't heard of them killing anyone..............yet. In the future I think you should forget about manure and instead get a bag of good organic fertilizer such as Espoma, Fox Farms etc. It will be manure based but, it will also have other essential nutrients as well.
[/QUOTE]
Thank you for your response! Just to make sure: I mixed basically 1-1-1 on the soil, manure and humus, and compost, so there is a lot of it; also the vegetables are mostly leafy things like salad greens, purple cabbage, broccoli, and shallots. I just wanted to make sure I won't get sick. Also, now that I spent my disposable income on not-great products, is there any way for me to fix the soil before I grow other things? Or do I need to take this as a painful loss and learning opportunity, and start anew with different materials?

Once again, thank you so much for your insight!

 

[Chuck]

Being ruined is up to you. The manure you bought is safe to use with vegetables, BUT, the reason it said not to use it in pots is that most containers are in or very close to the inside of the home and there will be an odor, sometimes just about overpowering.

Cooked means dried and composted. How much it was composted is up to the manufacturer. Scotts and Miracle Grow products are not the best of products but I haven't heard of them killing anyone..............yet. In the future I think you should forget about manure and instead get a bag of good organic fertilizer such as Espoma, Fox Farms etc. It will be manure based but, it will also have other essential nutrients as well.

Thank you for your response! Just to make sure: I mixed basically 1-1-1 on the soil, manure and humus, and compost, so there is a lot of it; also the vegetables are mostly leafy things like salad greens, purple cabbage, broccoli, and shallots. I just wanted to make sure I won't get sick. Also, now that I spent my disposable income on not-great products, is there any way for me to fix the soil before I grow other things? Or do I need to take this as a painful loss and learning opportunity, and start anew with different materials?

Once again, thank you so much for your insight!
[/QUOTE]
Go ahead and grow your stuff in it. You didn't really hurt anything but, when you plant in that same soil after harvesting what you have grown just use organic products like fertilizers and other soil amendments as needed. Soil doesn't go bad unless chemical fertilizers are used for an extended period of time. Then the soil is denuded of organic materials and mineral salts are left in their place.

 

[pinkpandagirl36]

Thanks again

 

[headfullofbees]

You're not after Chuck as a surrogate grandfather, are you?