1) I live on a main road near the CBD and I grow herbs among the other potted plants in the yard. Does anyone know if there are risks in eating home grown plants in the inner city?

When I sweep the yard, I always collect a layer of sticky diesel dust and for the last year, I've simply thrown this back into the soil, along with any leaves and soils which I've collected. My concern is that the plants we eat will be absorbing the pollutants in the soil and we in turn will be slowly poisoning ourselves.


2) The other issue was that when I recently spoke to a rep for a company who make small worm farm kits, they told me that it was not a good idea to use the worm castings on vegetable plots. When I asked what the reason was for not mixing it into the vegetable plots, the rep said that she couldn't tell me why this was as she didn't know. This seems contrary to any other info I have found on the internet. Does anyone know what the hazards might be or if there are any?

None of this is pleasant stuff, but I am already concerned about the damage we may already be experiencing from breathing in diesel fumes on a constant basis.


Cynthia