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2013 Spring | Agriculture and Food Systems

Soil Testing in Urban P-Patch Community Gardens

Student(s):

Victoria Ballena

Program or Department(s):

  • Program on the Environment
  • University of Washington

Site supervisor(s):

Paula Harris-White

Partner(s):

  • University District Ppatch

Faculty advisor(s):

Soo-Hyung Kim, School of Environment and Forest Sciences, University of Washington

During my project, I teamed up with the University District P-Patch to test soil nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and pH; ultimately, I wanted to see if urban soils were nutrient deficient being in an unusual environment with such anthropogenic factors surrounding its location. I myself have always wondered if these soils dealing with runoff and litter would be able to sustain healthy edible produce and through my project I was able to observe that the nutrients in urban soils were nearly adequate throughout. This project taught me that enhancing agricultural practices could allow P-Patches to be more beneficial.