London – Britain’s legions of ‘grow your own’ gardeners are being urged to ensure their soil is safe before they consume their hard-earned harvest.
The UK’s love affair with gardening has flourished amid lockdown as more people took up the hobby and began to grow their own fruit and vegetables.
But a firm set up to test domestic soil quality has urged caution before garden enthusiasts enjoy their first crops.
A spokesman for SafeSoil UK said: “With the UK’s proud industrial heritage the reality is that many of the plots of land that gardeners are using to grow their crops have a back-story that can mean contamination in the soil.
“Be it proximity to former industrial sites, redeveloped urban areas or even gardens close to busy roads, there are potential dangers lurking in our veg patches.
“We want to ensure that people enjoy their home-grown vegetables with peace of mind, knowing that it has been grown in soil that does not pose a risk to them or their families."
Contaminants that carry known health hazards and can be found in domestic gardens include lead and arsenic, while airborne poisons can include dioxins, hydrocarbons and even asbestos.
SafeSoil UK offers domestic soil-testing kits and promises speedy results from a certified UK laboratory and a full analysis of what the results mean, including international comparisons of what are considered acceptable levels of known potential contaminants that pose a health risk.
For more information, or to request a SafeSoil UK testing kit, visit our website or email us at contact@safesoil.co.uk
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Safe Soil UK – helping Britain’s gardeners to flourish - safely