Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Arzeena Hamir <arzeenahamir@shaw.ca>]

I would head the advice of the nursery. Along with possible  
hydrocarbon contamination, asphalt also contains heavy metals.  
Eighteen to 24 inches would be my recommendation. Here, our local  
landfill does yardwaste composting and sells this material for about  
$5 a pickup. It's not particularly nutrient rich but provides the  
'fluff" to fill beds.

Arzeena Hamir MSc. P.Ag.
Coordinator
Richmond Food Security Society
http://richmondfoodsecure.blogspot.com
coordinator@richmondfoodsecurity.org
http://twitter.com/arzeena








On 8-Feb-10, at 5:02 PM, Jennifer Hamilton wrote:

> I normally lurk on this list...but I need some advice. I want to start
> a garden on my new place, but I am now finding that the area I want to
> plant is probably construction fill. I'm finding lots of asphalt  
> chunks.
>
> Would it be worth my time to sift them all out or should I just go
> straight to raised beds? If I need raised beds, how deep should they
> be? I was originally thinking 12", but a local nursery advised 18". I
> hadn't really planned on needing to buy dirt!
>
> Any advice would be appreciated!
>
> Thanks.
> Jennifer Hamilton
> Santa Rosa, CA
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