Something to do while waiting for sprouts: test the soil for lead

I don’t always agree with the approach to stories at The New York Times —they’ve been rightly criticized for parroting global warming deniers even when they’re wrong—but they’ve bolstered their environmental reporting staff in a time of newsroom collapse, and as someone who sorts through dozens of environmental news sources daily, I can testify to the quality of their story selection and global news-hounding (they’re simultaneously in the German village that has given up cars, and at the Montreal bicycle fest).
But I really wish they had published this story before I planted my garden last weekend:
Since 2003, hazardous amounts of lead have been documented in backyard and community gardens in New York as well as in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia and Washington. Lead-laden soil has been found not only in inner city neighborhoods but also suburban areas….
Excessive lead in soil is the legacy not only of lead paint but also of leaded gasoline, lead plumbing and lead arsenate pesticides. Although these products were outlawed decades ago, their remnants linger in the environment. Lead batteries and automotive parts, particularly wheel balancing weights, are still widely used and are sources of soil contamination.
Soil is likely to contain high levels of lead if it is near any structure built before 1978, when lead-based paint was taken off the market, or if a building of that vintage was ever demolished on the site. Pesticides containing lead were often used on fruit trees, so land close to old orchards is also of concern. And beware of soil around heavily trafficked roadways; it, too, is probably laced with lead. But environmental engineers and soil experts said any place is potentially tainted.