Urban (and suburban) gardeners, beware. If you live near a major thoroughfare or in an older neighborhood, your garden’s soil may not be safe for growing your own veggies, fruits and herbs. You probably shouldn’t eat food grown in lead-contaminated city soil. What’s more, children who play outside are likely to get liberal doses of toxic dirt on their skin and in their mouths. And of course, any of us who spend time outside are liable to inhale the lead-contaminated dust.
“Lead and other heavy metals are typically present in higher concentrations in urban soils than rural soils,” reports Jennifer Taggart at The Smart Mama. “Lead is present in urban soils primarily because of its use in paints. … It is also present from its use as an additive in gasoline. Lead is also present in our soils from the pesticide lead arsenate, past and current industrial emissions, and other sources such as lead tire weights (still in use).”
There are a whole host of solutions for lead-contaminated soil, starting with how to test your soil and interpret the results. Figure it all out at Super Eco.
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The Square-Foot Gardening technique is the perfect solution for this problem. We are just starting our square foot gardens- it will fit on patios, balconies, decks and in yards (above the existing poor-quality soil). You can place them at ground level or at chair or standing height. Investigate this further by going to http://www.squarefootgardening.com and there are lots of videos about this on YouTube- it’s been around for decades!