Re: " It is safe to use fabric as a liner for a vegetable bed? In other words, line the bed with it -- and then fill it up with soil. " I'm not clear on why this would be done. My interpretation of the original question was that the weed barrier was to be used on the sides of the bed, to keep the soil from sifting out through the gaps in the wood. I could see cutting weed barrier and stapling it to the sides of a wooden bed, with a few inches continuing onto the soil so that the soil doesn't sift out where the bed touches the ground, either. It's not how I would build a bed, but it seems reasonable. But if it covered the bottom of a bed, weed barrier would keep the plant roots from reaching down, and it wouldn't reduce weeds to any significant degree, because weed seeds would migrate to the soil above the weed barrier anyway. It might fight off tree roots for a year or two, but I suspect not for much longer. I say ll this as someone who uses weed barrier on top of the soil and plants annual vegetables through it, so I'm not opposed to weed barrier. (I lift it and amend between crops. The holes are at standard spacings that I use for a variety of crops. I'm not saying that it wouldn't be better to just weed, but I've come to accept that I don't weed.)

The composting process is the great neutralizer :-) What may go in that is less than strictly organic will come out as an organic product in that any synthetic fertilizer or pesticide traces will have been broken down into their natural elemental components. As borderbarb indicates, I think you have more to fear from any airborn particulates than from any non-organic vegetative sources and even that concern is fairly miniscule. What shouldn't be composted is the same for labeled organically sourced materials as it is from non-organic products - stay away from fats, dairy and meat products. They of course can be composted but tend to alter the process slightly as well as attract vermin.

THank you SO much for your replies. Regarding the bottom of the garden boxes... I should have specified.... The painted wood is alson on the BOTTOM of the 12" garden box. I have the boxes on a base with wheels so I can move it out of the way when I need to. These specific boxes will be used to start out seedlings (I have dome covers for them.) Soo..... is it a problem to have the bottom of the garden box in contact with wood that has been painted with primer? Thank you in adavance for your time...

Aloe Vera have a tough skin that is easy to wash, just like your apples, oranges, cucumbers etc. If you leave them outside in the rain most of the year then anything that was ever on them has been rinsed away. The greater concern is for scraping or cutting out those yellow veins of latex on the inside surface of the leaves while you're trying to get the gel out. That stuff can be a very powerful, even painful, laxative (but it'll sure detox your a$$ if you're worried about something you et). To remove the gel I split the leaf open lengthwise and scrape the gel out gently with a table spoon, being careful not to get into the yellow veins. I find it's easy to drink if I mix it with citrus juice. Most citrus juice, including lemonade and certainly all those so-called "sports drinks", are too acidic for my stomache so mixing in aloe juice cuts the acidity and make the aloe drinkable. I always use aloe juice when making lemonade. My Aloe-ade recipe 1/2Q (16oz) Lemon Juice 2Q (1/2Gal or 64Oz) Aloe juice 1 cup sugar 1-1/2Q (approx) water to make up to 1 Gallon Aloe/Lemonade