Celiac Disease and Gardening in Canda

[RachEwe]

I am so frustrated! I didn't even think to double check or ask if the straw would be safe to put on my vegetable garden. I didn't think to ask till my arms and face were itchy and the familiar stomach ache began. 
I just wrote off an entire year of gardening.

I hope I am not the only one struggling with this because I am finding it SO hard. Wah!

[kareng]

Shouldn't hurt your plants if it's wheat straw.  Maybe wash them before you eat them? If you have a skin/ contact allergy, You will want to be careful to keep covered - long sleeves and gloves.  Maybe remove what straw you can?  Or, because you seem to be allergic to it, maybe someone else could help you remove it?

[Ennis-TX]

I learned the local mushrooms in all the stores within 30 miles come from farmers who use wheat grass compost and barley or rye seeds coated in spores for starting them (called the growers after a reaction) I have to stick to getting canned ones. As for actual gardening I have such bad luck I can not even grow okra and zucchini in Texas.

[cyclinglady]

Sorry to hear that!  I purchase mulch (cocoa bean shells or bark) or rocks (succulents/cacti)  for a nicer look in my decorative beds, but for my veggie garden, I use compost from my own composters.      It is great for trash reduction and terrific for my soil.  I let the leaves fall under my fruit trees too.  It is messy looking, but my backyard is productive.  

I confess that my veggie garden has been fallow this past summer.  Our drought has been severe, so water has been reserved for the fruit trees.  

Is the mulch on top or did you till it in?