A;l -- We are in the process of installing some raised beds for a community garden project on a site which "potentially" has soil toxicity problems, although we are not sure, and we don't have the funds to test.
So just to be on the safe side, we are doing raised beds and putting in high quality soil for growing vegetables. It has come up that we should / could line the beds with a "geotextile" cloth that will prevent the vegetable roots from getting into the native soil. I looked at a geotextile cloth carried by a local erosion control company, but it was embedded with some sort of petroleum based product, which seemed completely counter to having a nice organic vegetable garden. And in general it seems like these "cloths" are made from pretty nasty materials that will eventually end up either in the soil or in a landfill somewhere. So I am thinking we don't want to use them, but thought I would see if any other community gardens had any experience with them before dismissing the idea. Now I am thinking that we will make sure to plant only plants with relatively shallow roots (this was a recommendation I read somewhere) that will not go deeper than about 1.5 feet (our beds are 2 feet deep). Any comments about that as a strategy ? Thanks for your input ! Robin -- Robin Mitchell El Cerrito Community Garden Network Email: [email protected] Web: https://www.sites.google.com/site/elcerritocommunitygarden/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20130327/d912ed1a/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
