Sacramento Digs Gardening logo
Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

After so much smoke, can harvest still be eaten?

Wash produce carefully, thoroughly to remove grit and ash

Kale leaves with ash
Ash collects on leaves of lacinato kale. Wrinkly leafy greens like these must be
thoroughly washed before being consumed. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)





We’ve had smoky skies and falling ash for 25 consecutive days. These apocalyptic-like conditions make it difficult for anything to grow.

Still, our gardens persist. Green tomatoes continue to mature on the vines. Zucchini keeps growing rapidly. Apples, pears and persimmons are ripening on the trees.

But that leads to another question: Will what we grow be safe to eat?

Yes, but our harvest will need a little extra TLC before consumption.

The wildfire ash we’ve been experiencing should not harm most fruit and vegetables. It may give tomatoes and grapes a smoky or ashy flavor because their thin skins absorb smoke compounds.

Before eating, wash everything thoroughly, even crops such as melons or hard squash with rinds that won’t be consumed.

As for washing, follow these USDA recommendations:

Kale leaves in colander
A sprayer is useful in cleaning kale leaves after they've been
dunked for a few minutes in a bowl of water.



Leafy greens: The grit of ash can get down into the wrinkles of leaves (especially kale and spinach). Fill a large bowl or the sink with water. Submerge the leaves totally in the water and swish them around gently. Let sit for a couple of minutes, so grit can fall to the bottom of the bowl or sink. Remove leaves and place in a colander, discarding the water in the sink or bowl. Then, run the leaves under cold water, turning each leaf over individually. A sprayer works wonders for this task.

Sturdy fruit and vegetables: This includes beans, squash, apples and citrus. Wash thoroughly under a hard stream of cold water. Use a vegetable brush to softly scrub off grit. Let dry in a colander.

Delicate fruit and vegetables: This includes tomatoes as well as berries and ripe stone fruit such as peaches and pluots. Wash thoroughly under a steady but low-pressure stream of cold water, turning the fruit repeatedly as you rinse. Treat it gently to avoid bruising. Spread out on paper towels or clean cloth towels to dry.

When in doubt, peel. That goes for tomatoes as well as other fruit and vegetables.

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Local News

Ad for California Local

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Strawberries

Find our spring recipes here!

Thanks to Our Sponsor!

Cleveland sage ad for Be Water Smart

Garden Checklist for week of June 8

Get out early to enjoy those nice mornings. There’s plenty to keep gardeners busy:

* Warm weather brings rapid growth in the vegetable garden, with tomatoes and squash enjoying the heat. Deep-water, then feed with a balanced fertilizer. Bone meal or rock phosphate can spur the bloom cycle and help set fruit.

* Generally, tomatoes need deep watering two to three times a week, but don’t let them dry out completely. Inconsistent soil moisture can encourage blossom-end rot.

* It’s not too late to transplant tomatoes, peppers or eggplant.

* From seed, plant corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.

* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.

* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias.

* It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.

* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.

* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.

* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.

* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.

* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.

* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

square-tomatoes-plate.jpg

Find our summer recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Muffins and pumpkin

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Lemon coconut pancakes

Find our winter recipes here!