Results tagged “greencitygrowers”

Residents of Union Square in Somerville are rightly freaking out over reported correlations between contaminated soil and high cancer rates. It turns out that recent soil testing has shown that Union Square's soil contains "arsenic, lead and other metal contamination." Officials "are not sure if it comes from the Miller’s River that once ran through or from the Kiley Barrel factory site, where paints were once blasted off recycled barrels." Whatever the cause, eating vegetables planted anywhere near Union Square is not a good idea. All hope is not lost for burgeoning Union Square gardeners, however. Container gardening and raised bed gardening both allow you to garden without planting in contaminated soil. For a fee, Somerville's Green City Growers will even set you up with a raised bed plot, or you can stop by the Boston Green Fest in August for a tutorial. [Somerville Journal]

It was exactly the kind of day that makes Bostonist not want to be outdoors: rainy, 40's, gray, Boston's March specialty. Yet, last Sunday we found ourselves walking up to the Arnold Arboretum's Hunnewell Visitor Center in Jamaica Plain to join a small crowd of would-be green thumbs in the name of gardening. We were there for Slow Food Boston's Seed Exchange & Container Gardening Workshop, an introduction for aspiring urban gardeners to the art of growing things you can eat with minimal square footage.