Community Gardens!

Anyone who has a garden in an urban environment should test the soil for lead.  It should be known however that community gardens are most likely to be in urban areas. Because of this all community gardens should be soil tested often in order to assure healthy growth and consumption. Since lead can be toxic at high concentrations it is important to realize where it came from in order to know the importance of testing. Lead in urban areas is now prominent due to two primary sources: the lead that came from lead-based paint in older buildings (prior to 1978) and auto-emissions or gasoline. While lead is no longer in gasoline ie. unleaded gas being printed on every pump lead persists in soils for long periods of time. There are many documents that talk about soil testing from a basic to more advanced level. One good resource is the Purdue Horti Website .






http://www.ag.purdue.edu/counties/marion/Pages/CommunityGardening.aspx