Should I give up on eating veggies from the garden this year?
From a quick Google search it sounds like plants generally don't pick up much lead and fruits generally get even less than plants. So something leafy like an herb might not be as safe as a fruit like a tomato. (I'll call it a fruit in violation of the Supreme Court decision!)
Oh, thanks - that's helpful! I saw something similar in the Rutgers soil sample paperwork but assumed I was misreading because I wanted it to be true 
The general consensus is that it wouldn't be good to eat the actual soil, so don't do that!
This is similar to what happened to us. A few years ago, shortly after moving into our Maplewood house, I turned the side of the house into a veggie garden. I put down about 6 inches of organic soil, but like you I did not put it in a raised bed or added any barrier between this soil and the already existing soil. My veggies were doing really well and were getting very large. As we were going to start to harvest the foot long cucumbers, we asked the department of health to stop by and do some lead testing indoors. We were expecting and wanted to renovate one of the bedrooms and turn it into a nursery. We were concerned about lead inside the house and wanted to make sure the appropriate precautions were taken during the renovation. While collecting samples for the test, the inspector pointed to my veggie garden and told me to disregard the veggies as they were likely lead contaminated. I did not want to take any chances for obvious reasons.
qrysdonnell said:
The general consensus is that it wouldn't be good to eat the actual soil, so don't do that!
So no fresh, homemade mudpies this year? LOL!
Whoops. 
qrysdonnell said:
The general consensus is that it wouldn't be good to eat the actual soil, so don't do that!
@pmartinezv, that is pretty similar - at least makes me feel better about not being the only one in this boat. On the bright side, at least it happened when the kids are young enough that I'm the only one who's really disappointed!
I would eat them, for sure. There might be more unknown stuff along the way from wherever food comes from to your table. For one thing, you won't be wrapping your homegrown food in plastic. I'm starting to suspect that this is one of the worst practices for food.
Tom_Reingold said:
I would eat them, for sure. There might be more unknown stuff along the way from wherever food comes from to your table. For one thing, you won't be wrapping your homegrown food in plastic. I'm starting to suspect that this is one of the worst practices for food.
Lead is not as harmful to adults as it is to developing brains. I would not take any chances with the kids. Not worth it.
Tom_Reingold said:
I would eat them, for sure. There might be more unknown stuff along the way from wherever food comes from to your table. For one thing, you won't be wrapping your homegrown food in plastic. I'm starting to suspect that this is one of the worst practices for food.
That is why we love our CSA. Farm to table with little or no packaging at all except for the cardboard box. I only wish we could do it all year round.
The Post had this article about lead in community gardens a little while ago. I guess you want to avoid root vegetables.
http://nypost.com/2014/11/16/toxic-veggies-found-in-nycs-community-gardens/
Is there a reliable way to test some samples of the actual fruits and veggies, to set your mind at ease?
Oh, that's a good idea, PeggyC - I hadn't thought of that. I am going to send off soil samples to Rutgers; maybe they'll have suggestions about where to bring/ send the actual produce if all comes back bad. I'm pretty resigned to chalking this up to a learning experience and starting over again with containers for a few herb seedlings, and maybe some late summer veggies, but it would be so great if I could keep what we have!
pmartinezv said:Lead is not as harmful to adults as it is to developing brains. I would not take any chances with the kids. Not worth it.
That's a fair point. And I really know nothing about lead absorption from soil to food to brain.
Like the absolute rookie I am, it never occurred to me to get the soil near the house tested before planting herbs, tomatoes, and peppers in it. And of course, a couple of weeks after doing so, I learned that there's a pretty good chance that there's a pretty high dose of lead, etc., in the soil. I amended the soil pretty heavily in a rectangle surrounding all the plantings and they're growing in more raised-bed soil than original soil, by far, but I didn't put down anything that would prevent roots from growing into the soil and everything is growing fairly close to the house. So now that I know it's possible/ likely that everything I'm growing is in contaminated soil, I feel like no one should eat anything from the garden this year - at least not until I get it together to have the soil tested. Spouse thinks I'm overreacting. Should I just remove the protective fencing and let the deer/ rodents/ etc have at it?