Here’s a great opportunity to have your garden soil tested for contaminants. The University City Garden Club is teaming up with the University of Pennsylvania for a free soil testing event on Sunday, May 10. You can bring a sample of your yard or garden soil between 3 and 5 p.m. on that day to the event location at 519 Woodland Terrace (near 40th and Woodland) and it will be tested on the spot by participating Penn researchers. You can also drop your samples off in advance.

Soil will be tested for lead, a dangerous contaminant which can cause serious health problems.

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Soil Kitchen will be at The Dirt Factory on Saturday, Apr. 23 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., which means you can bring some of the soil from your garden to be tested for lead and other poisonous elements. While there, you can also pick up some high-quality organic compost. The Dirt Factory will be distributing up to 10 gallons per person of screened compost produced from University City’s fallen leaves and food scraps.

All this is part of the Dirt Day activities to be held at The Dirt Factory. All participants will receive a consultation on their test results, and free soup! See the infographic below on how to prepare a soil sample for testing.

The Dirt Factory is located at 4308 Market Street. For more information about the site, click here. And here is the event’s Facebook page (please RSVP if you’re planning to attend).

Here’s a chance to learn a lot about the quality soil – especially if you plan to grow something in it. The Soil Kitchen will be open in Clark Park this Saturday and Sunday, from noon to 5 p.m. Urban soil is often full of contaminants like mercury, cadmium and lead, so if you want to have it tested and see if it’s safe to use, bring a plastic bag of dried and homogenized soil (with as few stones as possible). The University of Pennsylvania Department of Earth and Environmental Science’s mobile lab will be on site to do the soil testing. The results will be provided for free and can be location-anonymous. You can also learn strategies for dealing with gardening on contaminated soil at this event.

NOTE: if it rains tomorrow, the event will be held at the lobby of Hill College House at the University of Pennsylvania (3333 Walnut St).

For more information visit the Soil Kitchen 2013 website. And here are soil sampling instructions… in comic strip form: