• Test Your Dirt, Hamilton!

    Test Your Dirt Banner

    McMaster University and the Hamilton Community Garden Network need your help!

    Urban gardening is a great way to produce more food, and bring communities together! However, some areas have soil with high levels of heavy metal contamination. We want to learn more about heavy metal contamination in urban gardens. We need the help of urban gardeners to test your garden soil, and report back the results!

    We will provide you with a free kit to test your garden for heavy metals. Please use this form to submit the test results from your soil. Your submitted results will be used to generate a report on measured levels of heavy metals in urban gardens across Hamilton, and this report will be freely available through a public website. With your help, we can make sure that urban gardening is healthy across Hamilton!

    Except for the postal code of the garden, you are not required to submit any identifying information with your test results. Before submitting this questionnaire, you will have an opportunity to control how the garden location information is used in the communication of results.

    Thank you for participating!

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  • Part 1: Input Your Test Results

  • What day was your soil tested?
     - -

  • See the instructions for full details on how to test your soil (You can access them on-line by clicking here).

    Please fill out one questionnaire for each garden that you sample. If you collect multiple samples from the same garden, please list all of the samples from the same garden on this questionnaire. 

    What were the results of your soil test strips? 

  • Please indicate the final colour of your test strips for each sample after the specified time.
    Rows
  • What is the type of garden?
  • What is the source of the garden water (please check all that apply):

  • What is the source of the garden soil (please check one):
  • How far away is your garden from the following features?
    Rows
  • What is grown in this garden (please check all that apply):
  • Please list the vegetables in the garden (please check all that apply):

  • Part 2: Personal Information

  • Your soil test results will be used in a variety of analyses and dissemination activities. In this section, we ask you to help improve our analyses by providing some additional information about your garden's location.  

    Please note that you are given full control on how much (if any) of the information you submit will be shared in public reports and maps.
  • How would you like your results and location information used in reports?

  • If you would like to be contacted when your submission is published, recognized for your contribution, or receive occaisional project updates, please fill in your name and email address below.  


    Otherwise, skip this section and click 'Submit'.

  • I would like you to:

  • ====================  Disclaimer  ====================

    By submitting this form, you acknowledge and agree that the "Test Your Dirt" project may use the enclosed information for dissemination and analysis purposes.  Any and all collected identifying information (personal and locational) will only be used according to the terms you have selected above.

    All submitted information is subject to review prior to publication. "Test Your Dirt" reserves the right to exclude any information that it deems inappropriate or harmful.

    The test kits provide an estimate of heavy metal contamination, and they do not replace certified soil testing by a professional agency. The information provided by "Test Your Dirt" is for general purposes only, and McMaster University and the Hamilton Community Garden Network assume no liability for the accuracy of soil test kits, or how the results of the soil test kits are interpreted, and make no warranty or representation as to the suitability of soils for gardening or other circumstances applicable to individual gardeners. It is the sole responsibility of the individual to ensure that conditions are suitable for gardening at their chosen location. 

    Contact testyourdirt@gmail.com if you have any questions about this form or the uses of the collected data.

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