Forum Archive

i just got back the results from testing the soil in our backyard in fort greene. it wasn’t good news… we have very high levels of lead. we’ve been planning a first vegetable garden (so far we’ve only grown non-edible plants), so rather than planting straight into the ground, we’ll need to do raised beds. any recommendations for how to seal off the dirt below the bed? does it need drainage or can we just completely seal it off and not over water? we will also have to be more careful about cleaning off after gardening, not creating dust, etc. anyone else dealt with this in their garden? i suspected we would have lead, but i’m surprised by the high levels. our garden is lush and not full of debris, so i’m curious where the lead came from. old paint run off? underground pipes?