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dreamindecor

Help! Pool backwashed into garden! Can these veggies be saved?

dreamindecor
13 years ago

My neighbor backwashed his pool which flooded into our yard, soaking our veggie garden. So far, the spinach has died and it looks like the tomatoes, squash, lettuce and basil are impacted as well. Should i harvest what i can? Will the chlorine kill everything? Will I have to replace all the soil? Any suggestions?

Comments (3)

  • greendesert
    13 years ago

    I very much doubt that the problem is chlorine. There's probably no chlorine in the pool unless he just chlorinated it recently which doesn't make sense, it's too early.
    The other chemicals in the water might be more of a problem, mainly salt. Most of the chemicals that get added to pools cause the salinity of the water to increase. Other than that just having standing water in your garden can cause the plants to not get oxygen. I'm not sure there's a whole lot you can do:
    if there is standing water, you should make it drain away (get a sump pump and pump it away)
    if chlorine is the problem, I doubt there's much you can do because the chemical that you would use to de-chlorinate would result turn the chlorine into salt (sodium chloride) and that's a bad thing for your soil.
    If your soil has good drainage, then the best thing to do would be to flush it wish clean water, but the soil here holds a lot of water, and more water would just make things worse.
    Seems to me like your neighbor should pitch in to repair the damage. it was his pool water that caused it.

  • lazy_gardens
    13 years ago

    No, you will not have to replace all the soil.

    Aside from being fairly loaded with minerals, pool water is fairly harmless. What's killing the veggies is massive over-watering.

  • greendesert
    13 years ago

    I agree with lazygardens, I don't think pool water is as bad as people think. People start screaming "Chlorine!" when you mention pool water, but chlorine is a very unstable gas. Pool suppliy stores love this fact because they get to sell tons of chlorine which the sun, UV rays and heat dissipate in no time, so they get to sell you MORE of it. I have an above ground pool (only about 1800 gallons. If I dump a couple galons of bleach into it, the chlorine level goes up to where it should be to kill bad stuff. If I don't add stabilizer, after one sunny hot day, most of that chlorine is gone. Even with stabilizer, it doesn't stay around that long. In the summer I water my entire backyard, all my trees with pool water when I change the water. I let it sit for a week or two before dumping it out, to let the chlorine dissipate. The salts are a bit of a problem, but I haven't lost any trees or plants yet.

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