Healthy soil makes healthy food.
Growing and eating your own food provides many benefits and can help protect you from heavy metals. Gardening promotes food security, brings neighbors together and cultivates an appreciation of where food comes from and what it takes to get it to our plates. However, some properties have a history that includes dumping, lead paint, and commercial or industrial activity. For these properties, environmental contaminants might be present in the soil.
Whether you are gardening in your backyard, in raised beds at your apartment complex, or on the property of your church or school, take steps to learn how to protect yourself as you work and play in your garden.