Thread 2952462

I'm starting a massive raised-bed garden in my yard in the coming spring. BUT it's over top of my septic leach field, which is approximately 4 feet underground. Anybody else done similar? How should I troubleshoot this so I don't get E.coli?

>>2952462 (OP)
Drink a bunch of bleach to kill the e. coli before it gets in your septic system.

>>2952462 (OP)
You won't get e coli, dirt itself (or even better, manure fertilisers) have tons of bacteria.
Wash your veggies
Avoid spraying water with an intense stream all over your plants, water them at the roots
Thats it
If there will be contamination, it will probably go for your plants first, so no fruit either way
On the other hand, you might have an increased level of azobacter germs, which fixates nitrogen, making your plants absorb it better, meaning more plant and more fruit

>>2952462 (OP)
You're probably at greater risk of getting salmonella from bird poop than e coli from the ground.

>>2952462 (OP)
Grow pumpkins to sell next October.

>>2952475
>>2952468
I'm concerned about the roots digging down 4 feet and drinking directly from my blackwater line. Apparently E.coli can colonize vegetable plants through the roots no problem without causing a loss in yield, so far as I've read. Which means I would have toxic products. Is 4 feet far enough away that most plants wouldn't grow down?

>>2952758
I googled this for you.

>>2952760
I googled that for me as well, I was hoping someone who had done a similar project or had any further and real insight would post instead of coming to be facetious

>>2952758
Think about it from the other way around as well. If you're worried about roots infiltrating your drainage lines directly, that's going to cause drainage issues. I know a guy who had to get his entire drainage field replaced because the lines got clogged by roots.

That said, you're doing a raised bed and that doesn't immediately set off alarm bells for me. Heck you can put a floor on the raised bed with a plastic liner so you can ensure the plants don't penetrate the ground underneath. In that case you will want to slope the bottom of the bed to ensure proper drainage. Over-engineered? Probably. But you're worried about it so do what precautions you think are appropriate.