1st time poster. I would say I'm novice, if not an idiot. I'm in Los Angeles, CA.

I have a 4x8x2 raised bed vegetable garden in my back yard that I started last year. Everything (tomatoes, lettuce basil) did pretty well this 1st year, but soil was leaking out the corners and seems, so I removed all the plants bought that black weed cloth and lined the seams inside the box.

In the corner of the yard is a dry dirt pile. My 2 small dogs (8 lbs each) poop in the yard back there, so about once a week, I take my rake and push it to that dry dirt pile.

Before I even bothered checking the internet to learn that adding dog poop to soil is very bad, I added most of that dry dirt pile with the dog poop. ACK!!!

Is my soil ruined?
Is there a way to salvage it?

If it matters, a few things to 'help' the case.

1.) The poop has been out there for a while. Like months, cooking in the hot southern California sun.

2.) My dogs have never had worms, nor take any medication.

3.) My raised bed has a lot of earthworms. If I wait long enough, will the earthworms eat the dog poop and dispose of the problem?

Also, one answer I could not find anywhere is how exactly the dog poop is bad for the soil. It could have e coli or ringworms...how does it transfer to the vegetables to get humans sick?

I screwed myself, as it will be very difficult to remove and dispose of 64 cubic feet of tainted soil.

ANy help would be greatly appreciated.

Ringworm is a skin fungus, not an intestinal parasite, so it's not an issue.

E. coli isn't going to be much of a problem after drying in the SoCal sun. (I'm a microbiologist, we studied parasites).

I wouldn't worry about it.

Is there something I could add to the soil that will make the soil less risky, but not totally kill the nutrients? Something like Vinegar? Or a store-bought bacterial/parasite killer?

Since my soil has many earthworms, I was planning on adding a lot more, plus pouring in a lot of beneficial nematodes and any other beneficial insects/critters and just waiting until 3 or 4 months (January or February) to plant stuff. I'd water the soil 2 times a week and till it at some point.

I read something about solarizing the soil to rid the harmful bacteria, but since it's winter approaching, I don't think it'll get hot enough for weeks to be effective.

Don't worry about it.

Nancy

I lived to adulthood.

That fine So Cal Sun and dry climate went a long way to mitigating anything living in there.

If you really want to be pro-active, liven up the soil as much as possible with living compost, organic material and so on. Mushrooms and bugs will be good signs that that's happening. Active soil is a happy thing.

Yes, the worms are your friends. They will eat the bad and return good. Shield the raised bed from coming winter rains and when the rains saturate the ground, the worms will come up in your raised bed big time if they can get past the weed cloth. Mix in some coffee grounds so they'll be well fed. I had compost bins on pavers and it happened every time the winter rains came - worm city.

Don't let it dry out (the winds are here aren't they?) and don't drown it.

If I were you though, I'd just assume avoid doing that again.

to sense
..

len