Planting location at home

Hello,

My wife and I are wanting to utilise a small bed/border to grow some vegetables (french beans, kale, chard). Historically it has had flowers there but has since been fertilised well and the soil condition is good. There had been quite a lot of ground elder but it has been systematically and thoroughly dig out by hand, square foot by square foot! Anyway, I was wondering if the forum’s collective knowledge might know of any reason why this might not be a good idea. There are some laurels at the back of the bed and I wondered whether that may be a problem (are they toxic in any way??). The bed benefits from being south facing. I’ll post a couple of images for illustration purposes. I understand this may not be orthodox and that I might get limited results but I’d like to try, I’m just wanting to make sure I’m not about to poison myself in the process! Many thanks and I hope you’re all safe and well.