This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Raised Beds
Acorn34Lou
Posts: 4
I want some advice, please. My house and garden have been built on an old tip site. This was over 30 years ago however I am concerned about growing vegetables here, as I'm unsure whether or not toxins etc will affect the vegetables and in turn me and my family. How can you test your soil conditions to ensure it's safe?
0
Posts
Not sure about testing, hopefully someone has some useful information.. but you're going along the right line considering raised beds. Most veg don't go down all that deep.. so if your raised bed is about eight inches deep you won't have to worry about roots drawing up from the deeper soils. And I think the less you disturb the undersoil, the better. Rains and weather will have hopefully leached out toxins from the top section decades ago.
Is it a new build? If so, given the site the developer would/should have had to have the area tested as part of the planning application. If theres nothing in the deeds, you should be fine. Still, raised beds are a cracking idea for growing Veg, less bending over required.
Can you examine house deeds etc to find out more? You could ask the council, to find out any dangrers. I would have thought they would have had to make good the topsoil to a given depth e.g. 50cm, but who knows. I too would be concerned, heavy metals could poison you. Who knows if plants could pull them into their leaves, and then drop metal carrying leaves onto the surface.
Thank you all for your comments and I will check the deeds and with local council.
Thanks again