Soil

Sprouted-grain bread offerings in the market have been slowly but steadily on the uptick of late, and a number of health claims have attached themselves to the spongy, nutty-tasting loaves: more digestible, richer in protein and higher in vitamins and minerals compared with other breads. But are the claims true? Yes -- and no. Sprouted-grain products have distinct nutritional advantages over white breads, but when compared to other whole-grain breads, they're usually nutritionally comparable -- although nutrient contents can vary, depending on the sprouts included.

State regulators found inadequate environmental safeguards at a Coachella Valley soil recycling company blamed for noxious odors that sickened children at a nearby school but said the mountains of contaminated soil do not pose a serious health threat. Western Environmental Inc., which operates a waste facility on the reservation of the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians near Mecca, did not meet California hazardous waste standards "in a number of significant areas," according to a state Department of Toxic Substances Control report released last week.

I enjoyed your article (In the Garden, June 22) on watering potted plants. I had heard some of the advice before but forgot. Thanks for the reminders. I have used LGM all-purpose, all-organic potting soil for planting and germinating seeds and starting cuttings. It is the best I have used. Have you tried it? What do you think of it? --MIKE TULLIUS Rosemead, via e-mail Editor's note: Times Garden Editor Robert Smaus says perhaps he was thinking of vacationing in Holland when he mistakenly called a potting soil KLM, the name of the Dutch airline.

Orange County social service staffers who say they work inside a toxic building that has made them sick now contend that the county has tossed out some of their most damning evidence -- 350 tons of potentially contaminated soil. But on Friday, when the employees' union went to court to get a restraining order to prevent any more soil from being disposed of, the judge said it was too late. "Whatever has occurred, has occurred," Orange County Superior Court Judge Steven Perk said.

You've built a raised bed or set out some pots. Before you plant, you've got empty space to fill. Here are three experts' suggestions for the best potting mix: Mel Bartholomew is Mr. Square Foot Garden, author of the 2005 Cool Springs Press book "All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space!" His blend calls for equal parts peat moss, vermiculite (or perlite) and compost. Concern over the sustainability of peat moss has prompted some gardeners to substitute coir, which is fiber from coconut husks.

Garn Wallace has the dirt on Los Angeles' underside. "The best soil is in the center of the San Fernando Valley. Closer to the hills you have a high clay and rock content," he says. Downtown Los Angeles is sandy. Soils next to freeways are laden with lead and other toxins. Wallace should know. Along with three of his children, he operates one of the city's busiest soil-testing laboratories. Their clients range from backyard gardeners curious why their vegetable patches aren't producing fat tomatoes to commercial landscapers who oversee planting programs worth thousands of dollars.

When Ron and Belinda Oglesby moved into Carson's Carousel neighborhood in 2003, they saw a solid, middle-class area where homeowners set down roots and lived for decades, where Santa Claus paraded through the streets on a firetruck and children returned to buy their own homes. This, they told themselves, was the perfect place to raise their three kids. Six years later, they noticed workmen drilling holes and leaving cryptic white marks on the streets. By last summer, they had discovered what the sudden activity meant: Preliminary tests under the direction of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board had found dangerous levels of potentially explosive methane gas and benzene under the 285 homes of the Carousel tract.

A series of storms has saturated the soil in many areas, causing landslides that destroyed or damaged homes in San Clemente, Pacific Palisades and elsewhere. Here is a look at why seemingly stable ground can begin to slip. A. When rainfall is less than 4 to 6 inches, over a short period of time, there tend to be few problems. B. When rainfall reaches 6 to 10 inches, soil starts becoming saturated and can absorb less water. Small mudslides with a few feet of soil washing away can occur. C.

State regulators found inadequate environmental safeguards at a Coachella Valley soil recycling company blamed for noxious odors that sickened children at a nearby school but said the mountains of contaminated soil do not pose a serious health threat. Western Environmental Inc., which operates a waste facility on the reservation of the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians near Mecca, did not meet California hazardous waste standards "in a number of significant areas," according to a state Department of Toxic Substances Control report released last week.

The first chemistry results from Mars' northern plain reveal an environment more hospitable to life than some scientists had predicted, one that might allow future colonists to grow crops as familiar on Earth as asparagus and green beans. Strawberries, though, might be tougher, Phoenix mission scientists said Thursday. "We're flabbergasted by this data," said Sam Kounaves, the lead scientist for the wet chemistry experiment on the Phoenix spacecraft, which landed May 25 on Mars.

- Morning fog weaves its way through colorful rows of vegetables, herbs and flowers as staff and apprentices gather at the center of the garden at Esalen Institute. It's 7 a.m. The freshly awakened faces sit calmly in a circle for a morning meditation, listening to the Pacific Ocean until the sound of chimes lets meandering minds know it's time to tend to the day's harvest. Bins of chard, arugula, parsley, radishes and carrots are picked, washed and delivered to the back door of the kitchen, roughly 1,250 feet from the field.

Al Qaeda's ability to conduct terrorist operations against the United States has diminished in the last year, but U.S. intelligence agencies said Tuesday that they now believe Iranian leaders are willing to launch attacks against American targets. The top U.S. intelligence official, James R. Clapper, told a Senate hearing that a purported Iranian plot to assassinate a Saudi diplomat in Washington in the fall convinced U.S. officials that leaders in Tehran are increasingly likely to support bombings on U.S. soil, especially if they feel that their hold on power is threatened.

A 600-foot section of a bluff-top roadway in San Pedro collapsed into the Pacific Ocean following heavy weekend rains, instantly carving a sheer, gaping canyon into the shoreline. The earth and asphalt moved as a giant block, slipping away gently and swiftly about 3 p.m. Sunday, L.A. City Engineer Gary Moore said. "This entire coast along here is a cliff," Moore told reporters Monday, standing about 25 feet from the edge of the newly formed drop-off. "So nature has created a new cliff.

Eight months after a magnitude 9 earthquake and resulting tsunami crippled Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and spewed radioactive material for hundreds of miles, scientists have produced maps showing how much fallout was found in the environment in the weeks after the disaster. In two studies published last week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers identified "hot spots" where the radioactivity levels were highest as well as the areas that were most safe.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to settle a lawsuit over allegations that soil underneath a high school campus in Glassell Park was contaminated by chemicals that originated at a nearby city-owned property. On a 10-0 vote, the council agreed to pay $2.5 million to the Los Angeles Unified School District and its law firm, Musick Peeler & Garritt, city officials said. The money will be paid from the city's Sewer Operations and Maintenance Fund. L.A. Unified filed a lawsuit earlier this year demanding $4 million to pay for cleanup at the new $239-million Sonia M. Sotomayor Learning Academies north of downtown.

Garn Wallace has the dirt on Los Angeles' underside. "The best soil is in the center of the San Fernando Valley. Closer to the hills you have a high clay and rock content," he says. Downtown Los Angeles is sandy. Soils next to freeways are laden with lead and other toxins. Wallace should know. Along with three of his children, he operates one of the city's busiest soil-testing laboratories. Their clients range from backyard gardeners curious why their vegetable patches aren't producing fat tomatoes to commercial landscapers who oversee planting programs worth thousands of dollars.

Children were evacuated from three villages in southern Ukraine after soil in the surrounding area was found to be contaminated with poisonous chemicals, officials said. More than 330 people, including 170 children, have been hospitalized after being exposed to nitrate poisons in the soil in the past three weeks, health officials have said.

After inciting a fracas in two states, hundreds of tons of DDT-tainted soil dug from a South Bay neighborhood will travel by truck to Texas to be incinerated, officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Monday. That decision comes after Arizona residents raised vociferous objections to having the soil stored in Phoenix, with some insisting that it be shipped back to California. Now, EPA officials are clearly hoping that an incinerator near Port Arthur, Tex.

Kazakhstan was becoming a problem. Gary Simpson had already failed once to get his package out of that country through an operative there. Now came more bad news. Kazakh customs officials had confiscated the latest shipment, Simpson's contact emailed. "They are very suspicious and think there are ulterior motives intended to undermine state security or foment revolt. " Simpson sighed. This wasn't any top-secret government file, just an airmail parcel containing 2 pounds of dirt.

The Nevada Legislature has taken the first step in demanding that the federal government make amends for massive radioactive contamination left by decades of nuclear weapons testing on a swath of desert the size of Rhode Island. In a joint resolution, the state's Senate and House are asking the federal government to contain and mitigate about 300 million curies of contamination left in the soil and water of the former Nevada Test Site, about 75 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Energy Department detonated 921 nuclear warheads underground before testing ended in 1992.