{"id":18841,"date":"2022-02-24T10:20:29","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T15:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/?p=18841"},"modified":"2022-02-24T10:22:19","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T15:22:19","slug":"raised-beds-from-metal-roofing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2022\/02\/24\/raised-beds-from-metal-roofing\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it safe to make raised beds out of old galvanized metal roofing?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Question:<\/h3>\n<p><strong>I am thinking of making some raised beds out of some old (60+ at least!) galvanized metal roofing we took off our cape in the 80\u2019s.\u00a0 Should I worry about lead or cadmium leaching into my organic garden soil?<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Answer:<\/h3>\n<p><em>Lynne M. Holland, Horticulture and Social Media Professional <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Since the panels you plan to use are so old I would be more concerned about structural rust than cadmium leaching.\u00a0 The leaching of these metals has happened over those sixty years.\u00a0 If you were still concerned about the lead I would then line the garden bed with old greenhouse plastic or some other kind of liner that has lots of drainage\u00a0holes.\u00a0 If the raised bed is more than 14&#8243; high I would line just the edges and not the bottom.\u00a0 The idea is to get a barrier between the metal and the soil.\u00a0 Here is a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/s3.wp.wsu.edu\/uploads\/sites\/2073\/2020\/05\/12-14-18_Raised-Beds-Instructions.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/s3.wp.wsu.edu\/uploads\/sites\/2073\/2020\/05\/12-14-18_Raised-Beds-Instructions.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1645800707648000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1Bbs2Hk2KxxbirfmmALE7X\">general reference of galvanized beds\/raised bed\u00a0construction.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Small amounts of lead in the soil is natural, but in places where there is older housing stock that may have had lead paint it is good to get a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/soiltestinglab\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">soil test<\/a>\u00a0of the soil you are using.\u00a0 If you are starting with a new soil mix (pro mix, compost, vermiculite etc) I would still do a soil test as you would want to know the pH and get fertilizer and amendment recommendations.\u00a0 There is a code for organic gardens so all recommendations are OMRI appropriate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: I am thinking of making some raised beds out of some old (60+ at least!) galvanized metal roofing we took off our cape in the 80\u2019s.\u00a0 Should I worry about lead or cadmium leaching into my organic garden soil? Answer: Lynne M. Holland, Horticulture and Social Media Professional Since the panels you plan to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[199,202,207],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask","category-maintenance","category-soil"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Is it safe to make raised beds out of old galvanized metal roofing? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2022\/02\/24\/raised-beds-from-metal-roofing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is it safe to make raised beds out of old galvanized metal roofing? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question: I am thinking of making some raised beds out of some old (60+ at least!) galvanized metal roofing we took off our cape in the 80\u2019s.\u00a0 Should I worry about lead or cadmium leaching into my organic garden soil? 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