Soil contamination and safety in urban areas

Starting a garden to grow your own food is exciting, but how can you ensure your soil is safe? It’s not just lead you need to worry about—arsenic, cadmium, copper, manganese, and other contaminants can also pose risks. In addition, different plants absorb these chemicals at varying rates, so understanding

• Common sources of soil contaminants and their health impacts; 
• Programs offering free soil tests to help identify contamination; 
• How to properly collect soil samples for testing; 
• What to do with test results and strategies for managing contamination; 
• How plant choice affects chemical absorption and risk levels; 
• Who else might use your soil test results and why. 

By the end of this session, you'll have the knowledge to assess and manage soil safety, ensuring your food-growing efforts are both healthy and sustainable. This session is the first in a series called “Focus on Soil”. Other topics include Soil Compaction; Overview of soil health and role of fungi; Microbes and Minerals – Book the Series Package for discount. Friends of SGA receive a 15% discount on Master Class full price tickets. You can become a Friend of SGA here. Green Garden Professional (GGPs) receive a 30% discount.

Sustainable Gardening Australia (SGA) is a not-for-profit non-government organiation dedicated to achieving a healthy biodiverse planet.

Its driving purpose is to:

• Encourage, educate and enable home and professional gardeners to adopt sustainable gardening practices to protect or enhance the natural environment;
• Provide information, education and undertake research about the natural environment;
• Reconnect people to the natural world through gardening; and
• Ensure an understanding of the impacts that gardening decisions about chemical and resource use have on the natural environment well beyond their neighbourhood.