No it doesn't matter. I assume you will be tilling this ground or breaking the soil and mixing in some sort of additives like compost etc.? In the process, time, weather, and normal soil bacteria will take care of it.

But "fear of bacteria" so easily gets out of hand when gardening, so please keep in mind that what's in the dirt, poses no threat to you or your family. The possible exception to that is toxic chemicals and there one would NOT garden.

While good garden hygiene is of course important, manures even when other than the usual cow and horse, are commonly used garden amendments and have been for eons.

Some folks even compost their cat and dog feces for use (lots of discussions on this on the Soil & Compost forum here) and while I don't personally recommend that, properly washed and cooked foods from your garden will surpass anything you can buy in both quality, safety, and flavor.

Dave

Yes, I'll be adding plenty to the soil as it's nearly straight clay.

I honnestly haddn't given this subject much thought untill I ran across a forum on a different page practically screaming anywhere there was cat/dog waste was a biohazard zone and compleatly unusable as a food garden for at least a year. It quite nearly scared me off gardening in my yard period. Very glad I got a second opinion!

phoenix_grower

Think about goodies growing in the wild, like blackberries or a lone apple tree or other foodstuffs that people gladly collect if they run across it. Fiddlehead ferns and asparagus that used to grow wild in one place where I lived, "planted" by flying critters.

There's wild animal feces all over the place, and probably not many of us worry too much about that. I wouldn't worry too much about the domesticated animals that roam free along with us either. You can probably shoo them away or take more drastic measures if they end up breaking your plants or otherwise destroy your best heirloom tomato.

untill I ran across a forum on a different page practically screaming anywhere there was cat/dog waste was a biohazard zone and compleatly unusable as a food garden

Yes, sadly that form of bacteria phobia does exist out there and gets preached far to often IMO. Given their fears I often wonder why they choose to garden at all?

It isn't as if dirt was sterile or anything. ;) When one thinks about the composition of dirt and all it has been exposed to over the years, if there was any truth to those fears no one could or would have a garden anywhere.

Nature is natural so we can either accept it as is or leave it alone. ;)

Dave

anney, a good point since as soon as I found out the woods across the street were almost litterally nothing but blackberries, I was out there with a basket weekly!

And digdirt, these people WERE actually talking about the best way to sterilize such soil, by using hydrogen peroxide by the gallon or by creating an earth oven with a tarp.

I'm really looking forward to growing here, as I think I might have good soil to work with; my house was a pond several years ago, and I think about all the lovely pond-stuff that may have decomposed into the ground.

Just remember if the wind blows you eat dirt and all the bacteria in it. Keep your immune system up with good garden produce and fear not.

Curt :-)

Ah, I love how reasonable GardenWebbers are.

I have cats, and while I don't actually go so far as to compost their poo on purpose, I have found cat poo in the garden (don't know if it was one of mine or the neighbors'). I don't freak out about it. I figure it's a losing battle, anyway. I scoop it out if I find it because it's icky but don't worry about STERILIZING THE AREA or something like that. I'm sure dogs would poop in my garden too if they could climb fences (they poop in my front yard all the time).

Yes, critters do carry diseases and parasites (and I would think wild animals would be more likely to carry them than pampered pets), so wash the dirt off your veggies. I think a simple washing would be enough to get rid of any tapeworm eggs or whatever other stuff people are so worried about.

This reminds me of how my boyfriend was a bit freaked out by the idea that the greens I was soaking in water might have BUGS in them (after I explained to him why I was soaking them in the first place), and he might eat a bug, and that bug might carry some kind of parasite. I think he was getting aphids confused with snails, which carry some kind of nasty worm you can get if you eat them, but I've never heard of people getting sick from aphids.

On the other hand, we have these food recalls where spinach or canteloupe or peanut butter makes hundreds of people sick because it's contaminated with some kind of multi-drug resistant bacteria. I think we're probably better off eating the garden stuff, even with its "hazards".

I can not edit so as a p.s. to my above post, proper hygiene is taken for granted and expected!
Curt~

It isn't the bacteria in pet waste that is the danger, it is the parasites.

The most common problem in the U.S. are the roundworms, Toxocara canis and Toxascaris leonina, and the hookworms, Ancylostoma sp. Roundworms are the most common, and they have a very complicated lifecycle, and worming preparations only kill the the worms that are in the animal's intestine, not the migrating or encysted larvae that have invaded the various organs. Unfortunately, the eggs can be ingested by humans, who are pretty good hosts for this particular parasite.

The eggs are not infective when they are first passed in the pet droppings, but will become so in four weeks (ideal conditions) or more. And the infective larvae are incredibly resistant to extreme temperatures (sub-zero temps, and some can survive being immersed in hot springs). So, please don't be blasé about them.

One good thing is that the eggs are not absorbed by the plants in any way, they just might stick to the outer part that touches the soil, or might be in soil that is attached to the edible part of the plant (those that grow close to, or in the soil, or parts that drop onto the soil and are picked up for harvest). Removal of outer leaves of lettuce (etc) and thorough washing should remove them.

The best thing to do is pick up pet waste regularly and dispose of it in the garbage. Some composting temperatures CAN kill the eggs and larvae, but in most home gardens, thorough (hot) composting is usually an iffy thing, and often doesn't include all parts of the compost, all the time, under all conditions.

It's better to be safe than sorry, esp when it comes to your children. Liver problems and blindness certainly aren't common, but let's not have your kids be the exception.

Sue, former vet tech

Here is a link that might be useful: Roundworms

I just bought a dog poop composter using red worms it's my way of trying to make something good out of something bad.

What are the dangers of tapeworm eggs (canine) in the soil of a garden? How dan I prevent it from contaminating the veggies? Better yet how can I kill the eggs without hurting the soil?