I've made quite a few stepping stones, usually with left-over concrete mix from a building project, sometimes using barrel hoops as a mold, which makes pretty good-sized stones. I often embed things in the tops of the cement after it's poured and the concrete on top is "puddled", with the stonier stuff below the surface, making the surface nice and smooth; such as stones, bits of ceramic tiles, etc. I've pressed fresh leaves into the concrete and when it is dry, and I peel the leaves away, the leaf impressions are in the surface. Sometimes I inscribe a name or the date in the drying cement. As it dries, I "turn" the hoop slightly a time or two a day so the concrete doesn't adhere to it and I can remove it when it is dry. (a barrel hoop is slightly smaller from the top to bottom side, I always make sure the smaller circumference is at the top to make it easy to lift off.) I pour the concrete directly on the ground, with a piece of plastic sheeting under it, and for strength I use a piece of chicken wire placed inside the hoop before I pour. When I am done decorating it, I put a piece of plastic over it, anchored down, to slow the drying time as the slower it dries and cures, the stronger it is. I always work in the shade. A week drying is good before I place my stepping stone where I want it. If it is drying too fast, I remove the plastic, wet it down, and re-cover it. For smaller stepping stones, I cut a couple of inches off the top of a plastic nursery pot and use that ring for a mold. You can also make a form with wood, if you want a square or rectangle. I have poured a whole patio worth of stones with a wood frame, in place, then removed the wood and put crushed rock between my stones. The time I did that, I embedded pretty stones and shells in the cement and brushed them with a broom for texture, washing the excess cement off when it was nearly dry. I've made stones with the grandkids' footprints and handprints, with names inscribed, and pennies with their birth year embedded in the cement. My grand daughter and I once made a table top using a barrel hoop, which wasn't removed, with tiny ceramic tiles embedded in the top, like a mosaic. I still have them in the garden. She was 8 at the time, and is now 21.

First, do you know for sure you have lead contaminated soil? Have you had a soil test done that measured heavy metals? Often, in areas that once supported heavy industry that did generate lead contamination, there is far more atmospheric and residual (surface) contamination than soils that are seriously compromised. And the lead problem can be made to go away. Biologically active compost is used extensively for bioremediation of all sorts of toxic and contaminated soils and it is cheap, relatively rapid and very effective. There is also no documentation that supports that lead in excessive levels is necessarily transported into the plant tissue and subsequently to you as the consumer of the plant parts. The greatest risk is exposure to you through working the contaminated soil and its dust or tracking it into your house, etc. So there is really no need for "bottoms" to your raised beds, although container growing is certainly an option. Sterile potting soil is just that - it has been pasturized or heat treated to eliminate pathogens and is used primarily for seed germination. The "organic" component is the ingredients in the mix, often peat, sometimes bark fines or other, non-soil organic components. The microbes typically present in any OM have been killed off by the heat as well - the pasturization process doesn't distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys :-)) But that doesn't necessarily mean your seedlings will starve for nutrients. Seeds are plant embryos that contain all the nutrients necessary for germination and the development of the first true set of leaves. It is not until these leaves emerge and the photosynthesis process begins that seedlings are even able to access soil nutrients. And pasturization or sterile potting media doesn't necessarily eliminate nutrients - these elements will remain in place in some quantity regardless. Once the seedlings have started producing true leaves you may, however, want to start supplementing with a dilute liquid fertilizer to ensure they are getting everything they need. And it is at this point in time you can consider potting them up into larger containers with a non-sterile potting medium, as the greatest risk of damping off or other fungal problems that affect seedlings has passed at this stage of growth.

Update - We waited about 10 more days after this post and then harvested. The result was totally different than the year before. In year 1, the wine was crisp and light, similar in body to Savingnon Blanc, but really, really dry. In year two, when we harvested three weeks later, it was full bodied, darker yellow in color and with a lovely and complex flavor. We definitely prefer year 2, but the trade off was that we only had enough to make 29 bottles (versus 40 the year before). This year we have had a lot of rain (we are in Santa Barbara), so it will be interesting to see what impact that has.

edenchild, I bet you could find fancy stuff online or in an upscale sort of store if you wanted to... but just the basic stuff a local fabric store would have would work just fine. Most fabric stores sell felt by the yard in basic primary colors, some pastels, and sometimes some prints. Get it by the yard, it comes in different widths, but common around 36 or 44 inches, sometimes wider- then you can cut it to whatever size you need it and you don't need seams or anything to finish the edges. Don't get squares or sheets of the stuff, you got too much racks to play with that. If you want, you could pick something bright to add a wee pop of color to the shelf fronts while still being functional. Red would be traditional, but light or bright colors would be nice too. Cut the felt to be barely inside the depth of the shelves, draping over the front edge is a PITA and usually looks like tacky crap. But do be sure to leave yourself with a few inches of drape on both ends over on the width of the shelves, gives you shift room for bottle movement as they get added or removed from the shelf. To do this... and use a fabric tape that's soft and not a hard ruler or metal measuring tape... measure the depth of your shelf just inside the braces, and that's final. Then lay the tape across the width of your shelf, using a bottle in each slot to make sure the "dip curve" is accounted for, and use that for your width measurement. Also... you might not be one for chardonnay since it's a white, but since you like reds... watch your cabs and pinot bottles. Some of them have a slight taper with the bottle and it's better to store them punt facing out instead of the wall if you stack your bottles on top of each other. Again, vibrations can cause a slide, and better to slide into the wall instead of onto the floor.