Join the NYC Urban Soils Institute at the 9th Annual Kingsland Wildflowers Festival at 520 Kingsland Ave, Brooklyn, NY on Saturday, July 26nd from 2 to 7 pm!
We will be tabling and testing soil from 2 pm to 5 pm, but the festival continues until 7 pm, so bring soil from your home or garden and we'll test it for heavy metals content.
While you don’t have to register for USI’s free soil testing separately - it’s first come, first serve - you should still register for the Kingsland Wildflower Festival at the following link: 9th Annual Kingsland Wildflowers Festival Tickets, Sat, Jul 26, 2025 at 2:00 PM | Eventbrite
Tickets are free!
About Kingsland Wildflowers Festival:
🪻Explore our rooftop wildflower meadows
🎶Experience art installations, performances and live music
🐟Learn about native wildlife and ecology, including Newtown Creek
💚Engage with participating community and environmental organizations
🌼Buy native plant species
🍕Enjoy food and drinks with friends and family
Kingsland Wildflowers is a 25,000 sqft native pollinator garden nestled in Greenpoint, Brooklyn’s industrial business zone. The project partners include: Alive Structures, Broadway Stages, Newtown Creek Alliance, and NOoSPHERE Arts. Learn more about the project here.
Our roofs are educational spaces that are not suited for pets. Pets are welcome to hang out on the ground level🐾
Getting there:
This event is located on a green roof! Kingsland Wildflowers is located at 520 Kingsland Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11222. The entrance is located at the large steel gate at the dead end of the street (look for the building with railings around the roof).
Once through the gate walk to the door under the red staircase attached to the building (there will be signs pointing to Kingsland Wildflowers Greenroof).
Take the elevator to 4th floor to check in with NCA staff before going out to see both levels of public rooftops.
Access note: the 5th floor stop of the elevator doesn’t always work. The 4th floor roof has both elevator access and a ramp.
Free Soil Testing Instructions:
1. Choose an area to sample. For example; a garden bed, bare patch of soil, a soil pile
Decide why you are testing. That will determine how deep to sample:
0-2 or 4 inches: If you are concerned about contamination in the upper, more exposed part of the soil
0-6 or 8 inches: If you are concerned about soil contamination from surface to root zone and/or interested in the growing zone of your vegetables, fruits, or flowers,
below 8 inches: if you are concerned about soil issues below garden depth
If the area is bigger than 3x3 ft, use your trowel or spade to take several samples on a diagonal and combine into 1 sample, then take out one cupful for testing. Or submit one sample for a specific spot or concern. Remove any non-soil debris from the samples (sticks, rocks, artifacts)
Put 1 cup of soil into a sealable bag (do not overfill).
Clearly label the bag with a permanent marker, with your last name, and a specific ID for each sample (ie, its location or descriptor).
Bring the sample(s) to USI staff at the soils testing workshop. Maximum 3 samples/person.
After testing, you must take your samples.
Why Test Soil?
Soils are one of our most important resources, but they can become contaminated as a result of industrial activity and legacy pollution. Common soil contaminants, such as lead or arsenic, can cause negative health effects to folks who work and play with soils, with young children at particular risk.
Finding soil contaminants requires special equipment – that’s where we come in! Our state-of-the-art handheld pXRF analyzer quickly screens soil samples for heavy metals content and we can let you know if remediation is recommended. Remediation involves covering contaminated soils with layers of clean soils, compost & mulch, and can be performed on your own.