I have a rusty firepit. It's only about 5 years old but the bottom rusted out. It's in the shape of a fire ring. I was going to throw it away but then realized I could fill it with soil and plant some vegetables in it and I thought that would be a cool idea.

But then my friend said that was a bad idea and you shouldn't grow something you eat in a rusty metal container.

I don't think the plants are really going to touch the metal anyways since they'll be going up above the ring and the roots will go down below the ring. And if they did touch the metal I don't see why it would matter. I assume this fire pit is made of mostly iron and we cook with cast iron.

What do you think? Safe for vegetables? Or should I repurpose it for flowers?

A little rusty metal never hurt anyone!

I wonder what your friend thinks could be dangerous about it?

I would never give a second thought to using metal of any condition in a vegetable garden. If it was an old arsenic container, or plating/chemical tank, sure, I could see reason to worry. But not just because its metal.

Listen to Binford.