(Skip ahead to "The Question Is:" if you want to skip the survival
commentary and get to the gardening question.)

I was doing a little project about finding a way to grow uncontaminated
food after an all out nuclear war. Turns out areas hit by radioactive
fallout, although "safe" to spend a few hours a day outside your fallout
shelters after two or three weeks, the soil may remain too contaminated
to grow food on for decades. This is because it takes far lower levels
of radiation to make you sick if radioactive particles are ingested VS
simply walking around on it. Rain will carry some fallout away, but the
soil will absorb at least some of the fallout. btw, radiation is
measured at distance to vital organs, so what may be "safe" for adults
may remain deadly for children and pets to walk around on or by
traveling in low riding cars. And I suspect the maps showing fallout
patterns would show much longer and wider patterns if it were showing
areas of soil that became contaminated. I suspect the entire east coast
of the US will be blanketed and the only uncontaminated areas of the US
will be a few places on the west coast.

There are basically two accepted standard plans to deal with minimizing
radioactive contamination in food grown after a nuclear war. One is to
scrape off the top layer of soil and grow food in the exposed, less
contaminated soil. The other is to wait for the government to identify
uncontaminated areas and then evacuate to those, but I again suspect
those will be only less contaminated. Fallout pretty much follows
weather patterns which are pretty much horizontal around the world with
far less movement vertical. If Canada and Mexico don't get hit they may
be the best bet for large sections of uncontaminated land.


Then the idea struck me, where to find completely uncontaminated soil
even in areas hit by heavy radioactive fallout, and even possibly next
to ground zero. Soil under concrete pads of buildings, concrete
driveways, concrete highways and sidewalks would also be uncontaminated.
It is generally accepted that food can recieve high levels of radiation
and still be edible (although will have lost some nutrition); It is only
when radioactive particles originating from the nuclear fireball itself
get into the food that the food becomes poisonous. The same would be
true of soil.

It was just a few months ago (about May 2008) the press was talking
about radiating all our food to prevent food poisoning including e Coli
and to extend the shelf life of food. This was radiation at extreme
levels far beyond anything in a nuclear war except at ground zero. After
such a treatment, even raw meat could sit openly on a shelf and not
spoil. The food was still "edible", but had lost nutrition including all
the "food enzymes" found only in raw food, something the mainstream
doesn't want us knowing about or they'd lose money.

Back on topic: According to Cression Kerney, the author of "Nuclear War
Survival Skills", although I think he said it in the video set that goes
with the book, the finest radioactive fallout particles take the longest
to reach the ground and even take a year to finally reach the ground.
Therefore rainwater may still be contaminated for months after a nuclear
war. So to grow completely uncontaminated food would require a water
well or other means to remove contamination, such as permanent solar
stills.

When catching rain, the first that falls and washes off the roof will
have the most contamination, but a down spout "first flush" diverter can
discard this. For edible plants you'd want a first flush diverter anyway
because of the chemicals in roof shingles and a screen to keep out
bigger things, but you're better off not even using rain off asphault or
treated wood shingles for edible plants unless you had to, but rain off
a greenhouse should be ok.

http://www.aquabarrel.com/product_do...irst_flush.php
http://www.braewater.com/index.php?/...rst_flush_dive
rters/
http://www.reuk.co.uk/First-Flush-Sy...Harvesting.htm
http://www.harvesth2o.com/first_flush.shtml
http://www.rainwell.com.au/rfd/aboveground

Roof-collected rainwater fails health test
http://www.physorg.com/news88268999.html


To grow food in completely uncontaminated soil means building
greenhouses over concrete that was then removed or building a greenhouse
over the crawlspace of a woodframe house that was removed. Of course
reconnecting the house to utilities would not be practical since repair
parts would be in short supply, but instead the house would become a
storage area or used for parts; I'd also be used for fuel for cooking
since burning contaminated wood would put ultra fine contamination into
the air. Uncontaminated food could also be grown in uncontaminated soil
in buckets or other containers inside greenhouses which is probably the
quickest and easiest set up.


So then....

The Question Is......
The Question Is......
The Question Is......

How much soil or buckets of soil would it take to sustain one person,
multipled by 2 in order to preserve enough to get through
the winter, but grown in a greenhouse to extend the season?

Thanks.

btw, can anybody recommend a good quality greenhouse fabric, the stuff
that covers a greenhouse to let light in, but not water and lasts years?