Not-quite-allotment Gardening

[gothwalk]

This might come to nothing, but... has anyone in the Dublin area got a back garden that they (or their landlord) wouldn't mind me digging (some of it) up for vegetable planting? Actual vegetables planted subject to discussion between me and whoever's in control of the garden, and bearing in mind that I'm not a very good gardener yet. Actual vegetables resulting to be split between me and the owner/tenant.

And if anyone wants to lend a hand with the digging and planting, should I find someone who's willing to let me at it, do let me know.

I'll be planting some herbs and tomatoes and stuff in what space we have in Portobello, but for potatoes, onions, and so on, I need more space. I'd look for an allotment, except there are none in Dublin - I did some extensive looking last year, and got well up into Dublin Corporation before getting a definite no and a recommendation to try Airfield House. Who, understandably, don't do allotments either.

Comments

[radegund.livejournal.com]

I would be absolutely delighted to discuss this. I'm planning a mostly ornamental garden, but with food tucked in here and there. Strawberry tower. Potato barrel. Herb pots. Chard among the pansies. Espaliered fruit along the wall. That sort of thing. Ideas welcome.

However, there's one issue that gives me pause: I haven't been able to find anything convincing about the level of risk in growing food so close to a busy road. Have you come across any discussion of this, by any chance? Niall's Ma suggests talking to Teagasc (her erstwhile employers), but I haven't got around to it yet.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

This is my own thinking, rather than anything researched, but: I would expect that unless you were growing food right by the roadside, natural dissipation of gases would mean that, at the distance you're at, it's pretty much background city level of pollutants - which is to say, not as low as we'd wish for, but grand if you wash food before eating it.

Because the pollution is (mostly) airborne, you don't get the concentrated effect of soil pollutants in the food.

I'll see about doing some actual research as well as just stabbing in the dark, though.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

This looks useful:

http://celosangeles.ucdavis.edu/Environmental_Horticulture/Trace_Elements_and_Urban_Gardens.htm

... and it looks from that as if soil is generally the thing to be concerned with, more than air, as long as you're not planting leafy crops. I'd suggest keeping the herbs as far from the road as possible, and everything else should really be fine.