Valerie Booth

For as long as I can remember, if I’ve had dirt or a little bit of land, I’ve kept a garden. Usually, I’ve just grown herbs and a tomato plant or two. But last year, I “branched out” and diversified, adding lettuces, radishes and peas to my offerings.

About Gardening in South Florida

Here in South Florida we have a growing season that is somewhat backwards relative to the rest of the country. While the rest of the country covers their gardens for the winter, we’re just getting started here in South Florida. From September until early June, I can grow just about anything most northerners wouldn’t dream of until Spring. I’ve read that folks who move to Florida from the Northern states must re-learn everything they know about growing vegetables and such.

Starting a Garden… My Sordid Tale

This is the story of my garden’s rocky beginning.
In June 2008, I got very ambitious and decided I needed a dedicated space for my “organic” garden. I had visions of blogging about growing organic tomatoes, herbs and veggies in my South Florida garden. I envisioned images of fresh lettuce, radishes and more gracing the pages of my garden blog. At the very least, I knew a walled-off space would keep The Man o’ the House from mowing over my tomato plants, little banana trees, parsley, basil and oregano.

Building a Raised Bed Garden

The Man o’ the House (aka Mission Man) thought it would be nice for me to have a garden that I wouldn’t have to bend over to weed. I wanted something in contact with the earth. So we decided to wall off a forgotten section of the yard on the East side of the property, and fill it with dirt.

The garden would be just below knee level and I would be able to sit on a small ledge to weed, plant, pick and water. Mission Man got to work building a beautiful raised bed.

Because the space I marked out was so large, we thought we’d use concrete blocks to corral the dirt.

The Bubblette and I went to our local Lowe’s, loaded up all the blocks we needed and lugged them into the backyard. You know you’re committed after lifting and carrying enough concrete block to span a 6 foot by 6 foot garden! Within three days, Mission Man laid those blocks, foamed in the outside, set marble tile over the blocks, put pavers on top and declared the space ready to use.

Let’s Get Some Dirt!

I was so excited, I could hardly wait to get the dirt in and plant seeds! Since I wanted as close to an organic garden as I could possibly get, I went looking for a natural soil. At Lowe’s, I found what I was looking for.

But just to be sure, I turned the bag over, found a telephone number and called the company. A simple answer was all I needed: Is there anything in these bags that is not “natural?”

The representative assured me their product was “all natural.” So I purchased 36 bags, loaded them into my truck, unloaded them and emptied them into my garden. And this is where I learned that what’s in the bag is not always the same as what’s advertised on the outside.

Be Careful When You Buy Bagged Dirt

It took 36 bags of a product labeled “natural” to fill my garden. When I dumped the soil out, it was damp and clumpy. It looked dark and I thought it was perfect. Although we had started building the garden too late in the Spring for plants not accustomed to growing in the South Florida heat, I thought I might get a few tomatoes out of it before the 90 degree heat set it.

The next morning, though, I was shocked.

The dirt in my garden was filled with little bits of plastic bags. At first, I wondered who might have shredded a plastic bag in the yard! But as I picked at the pieces in the now drier dirt, I realized, there was more in those bags of dirt than just dirt! And plastic bags were just the beginning! I quickly built a sieve and started shoveling dirt on top of it to find out what else was in there.

I found glass of varying sizes, some pieces smooth, some razor sharp. I found pieces of plastic electrical components. Two long three inch nails and pieces of laminate surface were in the dirt that was labelled “natural.”

When all was said and done, I pulled twine, a small plastic hand, glass, nails, plastic bags, molded plastic and pieces of countertop out of that dirt.

Fixing the Problem with the Dirt

I was stunned. I had 36 bags of contaminated dirt in my new garden! A third call to the manufacturer was quickly routed to the Vice President of Sales after I sent a photo from my BlackBerry. He assured me this was a mistake. 24 hours later, he said he was sending a representative over with new bags of dirt. But no mention of removing the old dirt was made. And no mention of letting Lowe’s know of the problem was made.

I took a plastic container with all that I had found to my local Lowes and spoke with a floor manager. That wasn’t enough to get the dirt removed from the shelf so 1 day later, all of what I thought was “contaminated” dirt was still available for sale.

Maybe I was just blowing this out of proportion. Maybe I just happened to get a few bags of junk dirt. I needed to find out if this was larger than just a few bags of dirt. I needed to know if this problem dirt was available at other stores.

I drove to a different Lowes… a Lowe’s 8 miles away, and bought a bag of dirt.

Pouring the new bag of dirt from a different store through my homemade sieve, I discovered another bag of bad dirt.

This was a big problem. People would put this dirt on their lawns and in their planters. Kids would run through a lawn barefoot. Someone would use their hands in this dirt. Someone could get hurt. Silly me, I called the Vice President of Sales again and let him know he had a bigger problem on his hands.

The New Dirt Arrives

As promised, the manufacturer sent 36 bags of dirt on a truck to replace the old dirt. The young man who delivered the dirt was a salesman for the manufacturer. He called on stores like Lowes and Home Depot. When he began unloading the bags and carrying them back to my garden, I suggested we open a bag or two just to make sure this was good dirt. He was very friendly when he told me that this dirt was definitely good dirt because they were aware of the problem and had taken steps to correct it. And this dirt had just been bagged the previous day.

Still, I asked him to open a bag and pour some of it through my sieve.

I know he truly believed that dirt was good. So when the glass and the plastic appeared on the sieve, he just stared at it, speechless. For grins and giggles, I asked him to choose any other bag and open it too. The result was the same: bad dirt. He called his boss, the VP of Sales and in a hushed voice, told him they had a problem. The VP of Sales called me soon after and offered me a Lowe’s Gift Card so I could purchase any brand of dirt I wanted. But no offer was made to remove the bad dirt from my garden. And no mention of having all of that bad dirt removed from the shelves of Lowe’s was mentioned either.

I needed to Make Lowes Aware of the Problem

This time when I went back to my local Lowe’s, I spoke with the store’s Controller. I brought all of the garbage I’d found in the dirt along with my receipts from both stores. I told him my story. I felt very confident when I told him he could open any bag of dirt from that manufacturer and find something like plastic, glass or nails in it. Then I asked him if the manufacturer had contacted him.

No. The manufacturer had not contacted Lowe’s.

The store controller and I walked to the garden shop, opened a bag of dirt and found the same thing I had found: contaminated dirt.

Lowes Takes Action

The store controller immediately called a garden shop employee and told him to remove all of that manufacturer’s bags of dirt from the floor, so no one could purchase them. He processed a refund for the dirt I had purchased. He then told me he would notify Lowe’s corporate headquarters and that all of the dirt from that manufacturer would be removed as quickly as they could manage to do so.

The following day, I drove around to a different Lowes and indeed, all of the bad dirt was palletized, shrink-wrapped and marked, “DO NOT SELL.”

The Vice-President of Sales tried to reach me again but by this time, talking to him was a waste of time. In my book, he was ineffective.

I removed all of the bad dirt but not before calling the State of Florida to have the soil tested. It wasn’t “lethal” but it wasn’t perfect either. Kudos to my State for being responsive.

Starting a Garden: How it all Ends

I sat out the Summer heat and purchased new dirt in the Fall of 2008. I was paranoid about the dirt and put several bags through my sieve before I was confident all of it was good.

I went online to my favorite seed company, Richter’s, and ordered their SowNatural™ Radish Seeds, Loose Leaf Lettuce and some herbs. Instead of planting my tomatoes from seed, I purchased their tomato starters.

Spring came and the lovely garden The Man o’ the House built was a joy.

I quickly learned the tomato plants and oregano had to be in front of everything else. They love the sun and the tomato plants provide good shade for the lettuces. I learned the French Breakfast radishes should be picked young otherwise they dry out and lose their texture and their spicy zest. Squash should not be overly watered otherwise they get a fungus and die. And finally,
nothing grows down here in the heat of the Florida Summer.

But I’ll test that theory with okra this year.

If you’ve enjoyed this article about gardening, please let me know. And if you have any gardening tips, please leave them in the comments!