All the thymes and oreganos? Wow
Phytoremediation is an area of active study for cleaning toxic soils.
Apparently washing the rice does remove quite a bit.
btw, afaik, naturally, brown rice has more has alot, basmati rice seems to have the least
https://sites.dartmouth.edu/arsenicandyou/arsenic-in-rice-an...
Incidentally there are also some studies challenging the heavy metals in broadleaf plants link. The newer studies suggest surface contamination is a much bigger factor. That's also another 'pro' in the column for cleaning your vegetables with white vinegar instead of soap. Acids are pretty good at dissolving metal dust, especially from residual contamination near roads from leaded gas. My yard tested high.
> The study I saw implied that most of the metals were on the surface as dust, so you could rinse about 60% off.
> The newer studies suggest surface contamination is a much bigger factor.
then maybe i dont need to overdo it with rice, sounds good.
> That's also another 'pro' in the column for cleaning your vegetables with white vinegar instead of soap.
On top of that, variants of thyme work as a hearty no-hassle replacement for grass, and it even flowers.
Here's some links I found for ground cover plants good for clay: https://gardening.stackexchange.com/a/7665 https://gardentabs.com/ground-cover-plants-for-clay-soil/
As for where to get stuff, search for plant nurseries near you. They may not be tech-savvy so you might have to use the old-fashioned technique of wandering around and asking people (anyone who works in dirt: farmers, gardeners/landscapers, contractors). They will know your local environment and what works best for it and can order plants and seeds for you.
AeroGarden is a pricy brand, but there are probably cheaper ones that do just as well.
If you do not, in a few years you'll have mint growing absolutely everywhere.
Mostly kidding, I grew up living at a rural property that had mint all over the place. I loved it, but I do understand how much trouble invasive plants can cause.
To be really certain you'd have to test your soil.
I don't think you could test seeds without destroying them. But if your soil was clean then you could grow a plant from potentially contaminated seeds and that plants seeds would be far less contaminated.
The question boils down to the actual harms you're mitigating and what constitutes the appropriate response.
That person did some lab testing and found high levels of lead in their backyard-grown chard.
About that...
> In addition, the limited testing the FDA has done on spices has been focused on harmful bacteria, such as salmonella, not heavy metals, Ronholm says.