Community Gardens

Community gardens provide fresh grown produce for the surrounding area.  Raise beds are traditionally used because of the lead content in the soil from the houses that were once built in that area.  The gardening was very different to me because I live in a rural area and not only is the gardening more extensive, but there is not a need for the raised bed...well, there may be a need but they are not used.

 

The Munsell Soil Chart is used to determine the color of the soil.  Basically, one holds a same of the soil in his or her hand and uses the book to compare to see which one more closely resembles the soil.

 

At times, however, it can be difficult to identify soils based primarily on the way they look, especially because some of the colors are very similar in appearance.  There is another method of identifying soils; this method used the texture of the soils.  At the community garden, we used a soil texture flow chart, based off of the soil texture diagram, to identify soils.  This method uses touch as the primary method of identification.