A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Advice needed for new Vegetable garden

Hello,
Myself and a housemate are planning a vegetable garden in our back yard. We have decided to use raised beds because of years of dog feces contamination in the yard, and we realize growing food in contaminated soil would be a bad move. I'm planning on the beds being about 12 inches tall, 4'x8'. Sadly we cannot elevate the beds from the underlying soil which brings me to my problem. How can I ensure that the fresh soil I am adding to the beds does not get ruined by the "dirty" soil below. I thought of plastic sheeting, but realize that would screw up the drainage from the beds, and I'm not sure if the fine mesh weed barrier would be enough to protect the vegetables that i plan on growing.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Hi and welcome

What are you planting? 12 inches of dirt is enough to grow lots of different veggies.

I certainly would go with plastic...you don't want the bad soil seeping up into your good soil.

We are planning on growing tons of vegetables, some berries, and one whole bed is going to be herbs and lettuces.We are limiting ourselves to strictly heirloom varieties, because we want veggies, not genetic creations. We are trying to be as green and organic as possible. So the beds are all being made from salvaged components, recycled lumber (not previously treated with chemicals, or paints), stones, and logs from a fallen tree. we are avoiding all animal products, so no manure, but seaweed compost, and compost from the pile we started and have been maintaining from last year. we were definitely concerned because we a re growing food, we don't want any outside contaminates, or diseases that could possibly arise from dog feces. should I assume that because that since our beds are raised drainage isn't an issue?

As long as you have good soil...drainage won't be a problem.

Awesome! Thanks I really appreciate the help. I'm new to gardening, and I'm really excited to begin. I'll post pictures when its up and running!!!