Making a Garden Hand Washing Station Can Be Easy
Although medical professions and epidemiologists have made it clear that fresh greens or garden produce cannot transmit the COVID-19 virus, it can persist on different surfaces for a few hours up to an entire day depending on a combination of parameters such as temperature, humidity, and light. This puts anyone at risk who comes into contact with tools, hard surfaces, water barrels, spigots, garden carts, or gate handles among other things that gardeners or family members touch or share. It’s been widely published that COVID-19 can persist on plastics for 72 hrs, stainless steel for 48 hrs, and cardboard for 24 hrs. Yes, it is good practice to wear gloves, however gloves do not replace proper sanitation with soap and water. Always avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
The Centers for Disease Control recommends hand washing stations for community gardens now more than ever for many reasons. “There are important differences between washing hands with soap and water and cleaning them with hand sanitizer. For example, alcohol-based hand sanitizers don’t kill ALL types of germs, such as a stomach bug called norovirus, some parasites, and Clostridium difficile, which causes severe diarrhea. Hand sanitizers also may not remove harmful chemicals, such as pesticides and heavy metals like lead, which we now know is routinely in Chicago’s soil. Hand washing reduces the amounts of all types of germs and will give you the best chance of preventing sickness.”
Let’s start with the basics…a hand washing station should be equipped with a minimum of the following:
A large, clean enclosed container to hold clean water (clean enough to be suitable for drinking). The container should have a spigot that can be turned on and off, not a push button-type spigot. This is basically a gravity spill gig, no pumps involved. For your container you can use an empty 224 oz. liquid laundry detergent jug with a spigot or the similar OxyClean Stain Fighters jug with a spigot. Either can be found at a home improvement store.
A note or guide to ask gardeners to bring their own clean hand towels for drying. Do not wipe hands on trousers!
Liquid or bar hand soap (does not have to be antibacterial).
A greywater container to catch the soapy water used to wash hands or you can use it to kill Japanese beetles, slugs and other garden pests.
The rest is up to your imagination and creativity!
You can download a pdf to build a community garden hand washing station in 10 easy steps for under $20 from North Carolina State Extension Services.
We’d love to hear from our gardeners on Facebook or in our Forum. Tell us what you built, even better, show us!