Q&A

I live in the Jerusalem area and have a garden. I would like to start a vegetable patch and also plant some fruit trees. Could you please tell me about the halachic issues I have to take into account?

How and in what way do we perform the mitzvot of giving the poor leket, shichecha, and pe’ah today?

My daughter planted grape seeds in a pot with drainage holes and 10 of them have sprouted. The pot is standing in a shelf on a porch.  I have got a lot of other fruit tree seedlings (apple, lemon, pomegranate and more) in similar pots on that porch, though not on the same shelf. We live in Israel.

1) Do the potted grape seedlings need a minimum distance from the other fruit tree seedlings while on the porch? If so, how much distance?

2) What about vegetables like tomatoes that grow on a table on the porch?

3) If I plan to plant the 10 grape seedlings into a garden that has other fruit trees (olives, citruses etc.) but no vegetables anywhere, how much distance is needed?

4) If I plant instead only one grapevine in the garden, how much distance to other trees?

5) How does one in general measure the distance from a grapevine to other plants? From the root/trunk or from the tips of the vines (which in a grown up plant can extend for meters from the trunk and grow longer throughout the summer)?

I have two questions: 1) What are the three categories according to which you can classify different types of plants vis-à-vis kila’im? 2) According to which categories are different types of plants classified today in terms of kila’im?

In my backyard I grow parsely, corriander, mint, and celery and I wanted to ask if there is any way for me to make them edible from a halachic perspective? If not, is it possible to turn them into a paste by grinding them, and then the principle that a partial organism is nullified in a ratio of 1:60 would apply (I understand that with strawberries you can grind them and turn them into ice cream). Thank you.

Is it true that it’s enough to soak leafy vegetables in a fruit and vegetable cleanser (like Sterili) and check a sample (organic vegetables)? In any case, why can’t we just use salt water or vinegar like we used to in the past?

Recently, farmers have begun inserting shoots into aloe vera leafs for moisture and protection against fungus. Is this considered prohibited grafting?

Can one say birkat ha’ilanot on trees grafted in a forbidden fashion?

Is it permissible to plant a tree from a lemon tree scion grafted onto a hushhash (sour orange) rootstock? Is there a comprehensive list of all the permissible grafting combinations? Are there any nurseries that follow halacha?

I bought and planted an apricot tree in my garden, which later on I found out was an almond tree with an apricot branch grafted onto it. Does this constitute kila’im? If so, what should I do with the tree?