Health Notes: Garden affected by flooding? Be careful

There’s probably nothing better or healthier than vegetables grown in your own garden. But what if your garden was inundated by this summer’s floodwaters?

Not so good.

“Produce grown for fresh consumption that has come in contact with contaminated floodwater should be discarded,” said Carl Rosen, a University of Minnesota Extension soil scientist, in a news release.

Floodwaters coming from rivers or streams, or those containing sewage, can contain microbial contaminants that cause illness in humans, the news release said.

The good news: The contaminants don’t survive long in the soil, Rosen said. Next year’s garden should be fine.

The extension service has put together answers to all sorts of questions about flood recovery at its website: www.extension.umn.edu/extreme-weather/flood/recover.

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