Convert above ground pool to raised bed garden

I'd like to get opinions on converting an above ground vinyl pool to a raised bed garden. The walls are 42" tall galvanized panels and are covered with a vinyl liner. The bottom is a concrete pad. The dimensions are approximately 8' x 14'. I wanted to leave the vinyl walls intact to stop evaporation from the sides.    For drainage I'm thinking about cutting the floor out of the liner or cutting slits 6" up the walls at the four corners. So what's your opinion? Will the vinyl taint the food grown near it? Which is the better drainage solution?

Maybe it is a perfect opportunity for a wicking bed? Just add a tap on one side, put something that will create void for water to fill. Fill the remaining section with sandy soil. One point though; 42" is pretty high for wicking action to take place. You can always fill the bottom with sand or wood. There is a guy is Australia creating IBC -wicking beds, Rob bob's backyard farm. He has some good youtube videos on the subject. You might wanna check this channel out.
Liner plastic is usually considered food grade. Even though it should not be a problem, I am always suspicious to plastic materials.
Hope it helps!

+ 1 on the wicking bed idea.
A layer of upside down buckets with slits cut into them will work wonders.
Also, consider how much you will be able to reach from the outer edge of the pool. The will be a part in the center that you can't reach.
I would fill that area wood chips and with  plant that with nitrogen fixers.

Also, consider how much you will be able to reach from the outer edge of the pool. The will be a part in the center that you can't reach.  

 a person could put a small deck in the center of the pool with a plank that crosses to it.  From the deck the gardener can reach outward towards the outer walls, making the majority of the pool accessible, with the least amount of 'path'.

Why do all that work for something that won't last long? Why put plastic, treated wood, or metal of any kind (especially galvanized) into garden soil? Cement has a vibration. Metal has a vibration. Plastic a distinct vibration. Why put noxious vibrations and materials that will deteriorate and add unwanted chemicals and metals into a garden? Seems like you may be proposing to try to make something out of nothing, instead of creating something that would be healthy, and helpful and long lasting. Anything can be made to work in some fashion, but the real question is, ...Why would you want to?

Have you thought about how much soil you will need to put into the pool? Do you have that much material available? Sounds like quite a bit.

but the real question is, ...Why would you want to?  

It seems to me that I would probably re-use an old pool for water storage, myself, or a gray water filter bed/wicking bed, but I enjoy helping brainstorm someone else's scheme/plan/dream, if that's their direction of choice.  

Have you thought about how much soil you will need to put into the pool? Do you have that much material available? Sounds like quite a bit.

 I think that this is quite a good question. Figuring out the volume of it is pretty simple.  The area of a cylinder is the area of the circle times the height.  With a wicking bed/filter bed, the material that is being used, could be quite diverse, including logs, branches, wood chips, sand, et cetera, which might be easy to come by.  Also if a person wanted to go with a hugulkultur type situation, the majority of the material could be logs/branches.

I don't understand the reference to vibration of the different materials. What does that mean?

I don't understand the reference to vibration of the different materials. What does that mean?

 Maybe Jim will chime in.  But the idea that I get from his post is that there are a lot of potential negatives to using these materials, and that's bad vibes.  Perhaps it's something to do with the frequencies of these materials, on some level?  I'm not so sensitive as some others are to the frequencies of things, but that's what came to mind when reading his post.  I can understand more directly when he mentions not wanting substances degrading all toxic in a garden.  

This year I began a slow experiment turning my family's above ground pool into a garden. I planted some flowers and transplanted some dandelion to break up the compacted soil under the "pool sand". I figure if nothing else I can build a container garden inside my new groundhog proof fort.

I know this is rather outdated but I stumbled across this while looking for something else. I have a pvc pool that my exhuberant daughter split all down the one side. I also have dirt that is the texture of cement-even the few weeds that struggle to come upin the spring have a very short life, they're dead by summer. And I hate throwing stuff away. Having enthusiastically tried various methods to ammend my soil, keep plants hydrated and the bugs off long enough to get any sort of harvest I was prepared to put in a bit more hard work.
I roughly patched the 2m tear, put in a 15cm layer of broken clay bricks, topped it with a holey tarp. I then proceeded to fill it with composted bark chip, composted horse manure and a bit of my dirt. I laid drip irrigation pipes and draped a net over. It took me 2 days but I think it was worth it.

I planted swiss chard, collards, brocolli, cauliflower and onions late last summer. It did really well! No losses due to pests, I hardly watered once the seedlings were established.
I have just planted out squash seedlings, same thing, beyond drip irrigating for an hour every 2nd /3rd day for 2 weeks post planting, I haven't had to water and the soil-yes SOIL- is moist and friable. Plants look healthy and I have upgraded my netting so I don't have to pull the whole thing off when I want to harvest a few items.
I can reach the middle from each long side and the tall sides act as a wind break for the seedlings against our persistant, desicating winds.

It's not everyones cup of tea but to respond to the "why", After 3 years of trying and failing, what an achievement to grow some of my own food! Yes, there's plastic involved but most of the food available to me has been fed by plastic drip irrigation anyway and is wrapped in plastic for how long before I get it? I have no water on site, every drop either has to be fetched from town (in a plastic IBC) or harvested (when rain does fall)from our roofs and is recycled before draining away through our lovely clay dirt. Any ammendments (poop, barkchip) have to be brought on site anyway so I may as well empty them into a pool rather than onto the ground where they will go  into stasis - unless I water and turn every few days.

It's not ideal, but it gives me hope that I can grow food while I work on the bigger picture of regenerating the landscape. My next project is IBC wicking beds- which is what I was searching for when I came across this thread.

Bravo Sarah!
You've used what you have to protect your investment of time and materials.
Thank you for sharing!