Re: Soils test required for City owned Community Gardens?

**&* H* M* S* <s*@bloomington.in.us>**

Bill,

     In Bloomington, Indiana, we have always done extensive testing of 
park soil intended for gardening.  We test for lead and other heavy 
metals, insecticides, petroleum derivatives, and PCBs.  Only if the garden 
footprint is clean do we proceed with development plans.  We test soil in 
the gardens for pH and nutrients every three years and supply this 
information to gardeners.

Michael

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
H. Michael Simmons, Ph.D.
Bloomington Parks and Recreation
P.O. Box 848
Bloomington, IN 47402
(812) 349-3737

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004, Bill Maynard wrote:

> Wondering if other Cities parks and rec. dept are doing soils testing on
> potential community garden sites ;or are they just developing them
> without looking into the soil?  This has come up in Sacramento by the
> parks and Rec dept.... it could slow or stop projects due to lack of
> city funds to address their concern.  testing or remediation of the
> sites can be budget killers.
> 
>  
> 
> Lots of feed back needed on this
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks
> 
>  
> 
> Bill maynard
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> 

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