Heat Island Effect and Inner City Community Gardens

Urban community gardens are popular sources of locally grown fruits and vegetables that can mitigate the need to combat food desserts in our cities. This project is a study of the heat island effect on tomatoes grown in center city Philadelphia, compared to tomatoes grown in the pinelands of New Jersey at the Stockton University sustainability farm. Tomatoes are a good source of vitamin C, and phytonutrients lutein and lycopene, and are typically grown in both of these areas. We worked with nine varieties of tomatoes started from seedlings. We considered historical data and computer modeling in the study the heat island effect.