Why was another garden survey – even more sampling – required?
The survey conducted by the MOE in 2001 was based on a limited number of gardens, and relatively few samples were obtained from each garden late in the harvest season. Those preliminary results were not sufficient to make any clear interpretation of the data, and demonstrated the need for a more in-depth garden survey as part of the Sudbury Soils Study. The SARA Group designed a much larger survey to cover gardens throughout the Sudbury area and collected many more samples. In addition soil from each garden has been collected and analyzed, something that was not done previously.
