Re: Curious about air/soil contamination for Toronto urban gardening
Bruce Van-Lane
Hi Joe, Sean and Shawn,
I stumbled across a document on Soil Contamination Assessment that may be the scientific one you refer to, Joe.
The document that you shared, Sean, was a publicly oriented document to help growers in figuring how to proceed, based on what that scientific document compiled.
It’s
downloadable from the San Diego Community Garden Network:
http://sdcgn.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Assessing-Urban-Impacted-Soil-for-Urban-Gardening.pdf
The publically oriented document that Sean kindly shared makes reference to the exact title (screen-shot below, link shown is inactive).
Interestingly,
in 2019, Toronto Public Health seems to have repackaged the same content of the
publically oriented document and made available at:
https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/96a1-FromtheGroundUp_Guide-Soil-TestingOct2013.pdf
From a quick comparison of the two documents, it seems the updated version introduced photos and more sophisticated graphics, but is otherwise the same.
Coming back to the research-oriented document, an intriguing aspect of soil remediation is phytoremediation, where plants are used to absorb toxins through their roots (not sure how the contaminated plants are disposed of). The flip side seems to be that where there hasn’t been full remediation, some plants absorb more toxins than others, and hence care is needed in crop selection.
It would be wonderful if Toronto’s stock of gardening space could be expanded through cooperative ventures that would see a portion of reclaimed brownfields set aside for this purpose in exchange for expertise and efforts in phytoremediation.
In the Resources è Research & Publications Section of the San Diego website, there’s a link to a document detailing a major phytoremediation project in New York City. However, the link is no longer working, and I couldn’t find the document through a Google search. Lots of other similar documents came up, though.
Best
regards,
Bruce
Hi Sean,I was sure that you'd be right on it, sharing that document which is a fantastic but hidden resource that was prepared by Toronto Public Health, back when there was great staff at the Toronto Food Strategy office who produced useful documents like this one (just a decade ago). FYI, that document built on extensive research on what was known in terms of soil safety for urban growing, resulting in a document of 300 pages or so. The document that you shared, Sean, was a publicly oriented document to help growers in figuring how to proceed, based on what that scientific document compiled. Unfortunately, the Toronto Food Strategy office was closed around Covid time, and the Toronto Food Policy Council disappeared around the same time.Just some background to the document that you shared - and please continue to share it!Joe NasrOn Wed, Feb 11, 2026 at 9:10 PM Sean Smith <se...@crookedfarmz.net> wrote:--Hi Shawn,Here's a Guide for Soil Testing in Urban Gardens produced by Toronto Public Health and shared by Lorraine Johnson to the Grow Food Toronto group not long ago. Hope it might help with some of your questions! :)
Best, SeanCrooked Farmz------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Brewing fresh compost teas and extracts for microbial health
in agriculture, horticulture and arboriculture.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------with the Compost Council of Canada.We Must Heal The Soil. It's That Simple.Crooked Farmz is a Certified Compost Facility OperatorOn Wednesday, February 11, 2026 at 09:03:22 p.m. EST, shawn grey <shaw...@hotmail.com> wrote:Hello urban gardeners. Any recommendations for safe urban gardening in a small yard of an approx 140 year brick house downtown toronto. Would contaminates be absorbed by the plants, would the plants be safe to eat, cook with?Thanks for your thoughts on this!ShawnSent from my iPhone--You received this message because you subscribed to the "Toronto Urban Growers" Google group.To reply or post to this group, send email to toronto-ur...@googlegroups.comQuestions?You can reach us at in...@torontourbangrowers.orgMailing addressc/o Greenest City220 Cowan AvenueToronto, OntarioM6K 2N6---You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Toronto Urban Growers" group.To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to toronto-urban-gr...@googlegroups.com.
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Rhonda Teitel-Payne
Bruce Van-Lane
Hi Rhonda,
It seems some kudos are in order! Most of us TUGgers probably are unaware of the key role played by you and other members with regard to Toronto Community Housing (TCH)’s new garden policy.
The revised TCH Garden Manual—sporting a TUG logo on the front cover—is a great resource for all community gardens in our city, regardless of whose land they’re on. Might the photo on page 11 feature some of our friends at Prairie Park Drive Community Garden?
https://torontohousing.ca/sites/default/files/2026-04/digital_tchc_community_garden_manual.pdf
And fittingly, at least one of the garden policy documents references TUG’s role in the extensive tenant consultations that were part of the policy update. It’s good news the Toronto Public Health (TPH) Soil Testing Guide is referenced too.
Also with regard to the Soil Testing Guide, thanks for pointing out about the inclusion in the re-issued versions of the content on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Nasty carcinogens, for sure. In addition to weed control, it seems there could be a variety of other means by which they could enter soil in proposed garden sites, e.g., insecticides, pole preservatives, etc. Good thing TPH’s experience with hydro corridor Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs) led to their flagging.
I suspect many of us TUGgers aren’t aware of the role the organization played in the approval of Flemo Farm, which sits in a hydro corridor.
https://foodshare.net/programs/community-food-growing/flemo-farm/
Five years of tough slogging, no doubt, but what a wonderful outcome!
Bruce