Old batteries/rubbish in the ground!

Hello all,

I moved into a new house late last year, and had planned to dig the ground before winter set in, and get a poly tunnel or two in as well, but that didn't pan out. So now that the weather has improved a bit, I've made a start with digging some beds for veg.

It seems the previous owner/s used that particular area to dump/burn their rubbish. I'm pulling out all sorts - bits of cars (the previous owner was a mechanic), fairly large bits of rusted iron, lots of glass, old shoes, lumps of bitchumen, bulbs, plastic, wire, fragments of enamel, broken crockery, bricks, springs from old mattresses... the list goes on! That's on top of the large (up to skittle-sized) lumps of slate, clay, and old tree stumps, which is why it took me a good 10 or 12 hrs just to double-dig a single 12 foot by 3 3/4 foot
bed.

The one thing I'm a bit concerned about is the old batteries I keep finding which have disintegrated leaving powdery blue-green clumps and flecks in the soil, most of which I've managed to pick out so far, but I wonder if what little remains is likely to cause any problems?

Whilst we have a couple of acres, much of it does not get full sun, unlike the area where I'm digging the veg beds, so I don't really want to have to use another part of the land if I can avoid it.

On the plus side, I have found a couple of old coins (one that's more than 100 years old), lots of aluminum and iron that should have a bit of value as scrap, and yesterday whilst helping me dig my partner found a lizard (I think!) that must have been hibernating in the ground. Luckily it was unharmed, which is amazing considering how close it's colour matched the soil!

Thanks for the reply Trillium.

It looks like mostly AA and D type cells, probably from 20+ years back. Difficult to estimate how many, but from the bed I mentioned, there must have been around 30. Most of those were just the carbon rods, and all other parts had completely corroded away leaving no sign apart from the rod.

I'm thinking about putting a bit of lime in the soil where there are still signs of the contents, but that's only in a few places.

Were old "standard" (ie non-alkaline) cells bad for heavy metals?

Thanks for the heads up about Polyphenols gremlin.

Regarding the contamination of root crops, I've heard pretty much the same thing - that it's mainly the soil stuck to the tuber that's the problem. I was planning to put potatoes in these beds, so they will have to be washed and peeled carefully I guess. Onions too.

If anyone knows of any other potential problems, please do let me know. Thanks.