Poison Ivy Is My Enemy

One of the many things I love about living in Manhattan is I'm never exposed to poison ivy. Not so in the suburbs. I've read that birds eat it and then spread it throughout a neighborhood. Do these 3-leaf plants, so vibrantly green, look evil to you?

Over the weekend I helped my mother weed her yard. I put on garden gloves and after working in her yard, I came into the house to wash my hands and arms up to my elbows with soap and water. I also dabbed on 70% alcohol and still got poison ivy. I was very careful and don't remember any plants touching my legs. Well, they got me!

The poison ivy rash is caused by an allergic reaction to urushiol oil, which is found in the leaves, stems, and roots of poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac. It only takes a small amount, the size of a grain of table salt to cause an allergic reaction in 85% - 90% of people. 10% - 15% of people are not allergic to urushiol oil.

Urushiol oil can remain potent on clothes and any objects it comes in contact with for as long as five years. Experts say wash contaminated clothes with regular detergent or bleach separately from other laundry in hot water and clean surfaces with disinfecting cloths. Don't touch the side of the cloth you have used to wipe a surface. Also, give your dog a bath wearing gloves if he's out in poison ivy. He'll be spared, but you'll get poison ivy if you touch the urushiol resin on his fur.

A poison ivy rash takes 3 - 4 weeks to heal. The itching is intense. New blisters can appear for up to 2 weeks, first in areas with the most exposure and later in areas with the least exposure [see Prevention]. Frankly, nothing takes away the itch of poison ivy, though you can ease it some by keeping the affected area moist. I use body moisturizers and body oils. I apply Noxema, Cetaphil, CeraVe, and baby oil. I haven't found any special products that do anymore to promote healing or relief from the itching. The secret ingredient is t-i-m-e!

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City Gardener Extraordinaire

I work for a magazine. In early May I brought home a tiny bell pepper plant from a photo shoot, transferred it into a big flower pot, began watering it, added a weekly fertilizer and sat it in my windowsill just to see what would happen.

Later I bought sweet basil because herbs are like weeds, easy to grow. Than I received two free tomato plants [which I know] require a lot of sun to produce tomatoes. Still nothing ventured, nothing gained. So I transplanted both -- a male and female -- into a single large pot and tended to them too.

Now I have enough basil to make a pesto sauce and three bell peppers that are getting surprisingly big, mature enough to pick soon. The tomato plants have tripled in size. A dozen little yellow flowers have blossomed on each one, and I understand those turn into tomatoes. Had they been outside receiving 6-8 hours of full sun each day, tomatoes would be falling off the vines already. Regardless, I'm thrilled they're doing so well indoors. And plants are pretty. Even without the produce, all the greenery spruces up the apartment. So my experiment of growing the unlikely in flower pots is paying off. With a minimum of time, effort and experience, I'll actually serve fresh picked “garden” peppers, tomatoes and basil for dinner. And straight from my windowsill, I'll savor the sweet taste of success.

Update: Other easy to grow herbs include: mint, oregano, chives, sage, parsley and lavender. The red peppers and tomatoes were delicious! Another way to pollenate tomato plants -- and as it turns out all plants like air -- is to turn a fan on them. Most herbs need 4 hours of direct sunlight to live, but you can use an inexpensive fluorescent light to make up for not having enough sun.