raised bed advice needed

[shellyanne1987]

I've just built a raised bed 5x2 ft I wanting to line it but need to make drainage holes but I don't want roots going into the earth in the garden under the bed as our soils polluted so any advice how to drain without risking rooting will be greatly appreciated thanks!

[Bill HH]

What sort of pollution are you talking about? If its serious pollution all you could do is turn tour raised bed into a trough on legs with a solid bottom to it so its off the ground completely, as far as i can see.

[rustylady]

Like Bill said - what sort of pollution are you talking about? As I recall, you live in a new build property so it certainly shouldn't be polluted.

[rary]

If you have polluted ground cover the ground with heavy duty poly or any strong waterproof material you can afford, you must avoid any water transference from the polluted soil, cover this with wood chip to avoid puncturing the ground cover, cover wood chip with weed suppressant membrane and then construct your raised beds on top of that. Evidently this method can be applied to as large or small area as required.

Try and contact someone at the Farliegrowers web site as they have constructed their raised beds on contaminated ground, and may give you some guidance.

[shellyanne1987]

Like Bill said - what sort of pollution are you talking about? As I recall, you live in a new build property so it certainly shouldn't be polluted.

I've been told that it would probably be polluted with oils and fuels from the diggers etc I'm not clued up on this sort of thing so thought raised beds with shop brought organic soil would just be the safest option as I've got kids I don't want to take any risks with food they'll eat


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[Bill HH]

I've been told that it would probably be polluted with oils and fuels from the diggers etc I'm not clued up on this sort of thing so thought raised beds with shop brought organic soil would just be the safest option as I've got kids I don't want to take any risks with food they'll eat


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If diggers or tractors passing over the ground caused pollution then every sguare yard of all the agricultural land in Britain would be polluted. So unless there has been industrial use of the land I wouldnt worry in the least.
However there are other reasons to use raised beds, better control of the soil, less bending etc.

[Kristen]

If it's a new build? I think the greater risk is that the builders have buried all their rubble, and not much will grow on top of that ... ever They may also have packed the subsoil down hard, driving over it, and create the equivalent of a "plough pan" which roots won't be able to grow through.

If you do have that problem I would recommend going to the trouble of getting all the junk out (or getting the builders back to do it!!) - all the half brickbats etc. may be useful - e.g. to make a soakaway if the ground is heavy and water tends to stand after heavy rain - so you might not need to get rid of them, per se.

If the soil is heavy then raised beds will help with drainage, making it easier to plant earlier in Spring and so on.

[Aberdeenplotter]

thought raised beds with shop brought organic soil would just be the safest option as I've got kids


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Have you any idea how much shop bought organic compost would cost? You'd need to win the lottery to be able to afford it . Someone seems to have a very poor opinion of the type of machinery used on building sites. Most builders hire in machinery these days and the machines on most sites are virtually new as a consequence and so there is unlikely to be any pollution from that source.

[Kristen]

Have you any idea how much shop bought organic compost would cost?

Depends how strongly O/P feels about the risk to her kids surely? I daresay the compost could be bought bulk, more cheaply, but I reckon the concept of having safe food for toddlers, and to what extent someone pursues that goal, is up to the parent to decide. I might think someone is being OTT but who knows for sure?

Every few years some chemical previously thought to have been safe is found to be harmful ... and I see workers on building sites pouring diesel into equipment onsite without any thought to how much they spill - its not their money - and all sorts of materials stacked fairly haphazardly around the site. Some of those may well be toxic / get split / perhaps no one bothers about clearing it up ...

I'm starting to get nervous about spuds imported from abroad because of concerns that they might have had Gramoxone used on them to dessicate the haulms before harvest ... not many years ago that was what farmers did here, but Gramoxone now banned in the EU (but not much anywhere else ...) so I'm now planning to grow Main Crop spuds, whereas until now I thought it wasn't worth the effort - lot of space required, and when I did grow them they would be sprouting by Christmas in my store room - to have provenance on my Spuds.

Provenance of produce, and whatever standard folk perceive as being worth aiming for, is a moving target I reckon.

[shellyanne1987]

Oh price doesn't come into making sure food for my kids is grown in good enough soil I'm quite a worrier about food and better to be safe than sorry when it comes to what's going into our bodies


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