Vegetable garden question for newbie gardender

[Jenn]

My Mom planted tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers and they are growing nicely. This is her first gardening attempt - so when someone told her to "mulch", she used red hemlock bark mulch on the soil instead of hay/straw. Now someone is telling her those vegetables should not be eaten because of the chemicals in the hemlock mulch. Any clue if this is true - I have absolutely no idea - my veggies come from the farm stand or the grocery strore.

[gina2000]

I honestly don't know, Jenn. Hemlock is a poison, though, so it may, in fact, be true.

I'll take a gander around and see what I can come up with.

[Snowwark]

Hi Jenn, welcome to the Garden! :D

As far as I understand, it's the plant Poison Hemlock (http://www.cwma.org/poison_hemlock.html) , that is poisonous, not the Hemlock (http://www.il-st-acad-sci.org/trees/hemlock.html) tree, from which the mulch is made.

Here is some more info for you. Botany.com (http://www.botany.com/tsuga.html)

I hope this helps ease your mind. Tell your Mom to enjoy her produce! :D

[wbk]

I would pose the question to your local ag extension office.