Raised Beds are full of cat poo!

aliasojo

My own fault. I neglected the raised beds at the end of last year and didn't replace the cover when it blew off in the bad weather etc.

I'm in the garden today pulling out all the dead veg plants (withered sweetcorn anyone? ) and have found lots of cat poo in the bed. There's even more cat poo in the empty raised bed next to it.

These things cost an arm and a leg to fill with compost and top soil. Do I need to empty them out completely and start again because of the poo? It'll be an expensive lesson if I do.

(It'll be veg that's being grown in them again btw, not flowers or other decorative plants.)

cootambear

I would simply replace the first 6 inches of top soil. the danger (small) is crap splash on the plants you eat (bugs). otherwise the plants will like the fertiliser. your veg may taste of fish though. (joking).

darich

Cats are carnivores and their faeces can contain certain bacteria and toxins. It's not good for fertilizer.
Have a quick search on google for cat poo fertilizer.....generally not a good idea.

cootambear

my wrong........................

aliasojo

Thanks. Looks like I'm shelling out for more compost again then.

While I'm on the subject....what happens with the earth that was in all the other planters I grew carrot/peas/beans/potatoes etc in? (They are all cat poo free). Do I need to replace that too or can I re-use this year?

tanith

aliasojo wrote: »

Thanks. Looks like I'm shelling out for more compost again then.

While I'm on the subject....what happens with the earth that was in all the other planters I grew carrot/peas/beans/potatoes etc in? (They are all cat poo free). Do I need to replace that too or can I re-use this year?

I take the top 6" off and replace with fresh then every other year replace it all... some fertiliser added in would be good.

Sunnyday

Alias :wave:

i`ve had this happen the last two years

I sorted mine out two days ago - i dug through and removed the poo and then watered it until it was waterlogged, when its drained down i`ve added farmyard manure and more compost then forked fish blood and bone through it. I`ve draped pea and bean netting over it now and when my veg are big enough they will go in under a cheap poly tunnel thingy from the pound shop.

I meant to net mine over winter as it happened last year too but i forgot

Half of the compost from last years pots has gone into the composter and mixed in with the peelings etc, the rest has been topped up with new and mixed in with some fertilizer. I`ve planted my onions in some of these yesterday.

HTH

SD

aliasojo

Hey SD, long time no see. :wave:

I see you're still a busy person then?

I'm trying hard to get off the couch. Did you see my blog?

I started a composter going last year but didn't do it properly (what's new!) and I think I'll need to dump what's in it and start again. I never added anything to it or got OH to pee on it so it never really did very much apart from attract a million flies.

After going back out to the beds, I realised there's probably more poo than I first thought and there's also what looks suspiciously like cat sick there too. _pale_ I'm going to dump the lot as soon as I get bags or buckets to take it to the dump.

I WILL get the hang of this gardenng lark. I WANT to grow things, I'm just not good at it. :rotfl:

Thanks very much for the replies all. :beer:

Sunnyday

aliasojo wrote: »

Hey SD, long time no see. :wave:

I see you're still a busy person then?

I'm trying hard to get off the couch. Did you see my blog?

Lol nice to "see" you, not seen your blog for a couple of months, i`ve just had a quick google and can`t find it the bookmark is on my lappy and i`m at w*rk

I`ve been so busy that i`m meeting myself coming back these days Will have to have a catchup soon

If you get chance pm me the link to your blog and i`ll have a nosy - i`m stuck here until the early hours!

SD

ALIBOBSY

We had some of this in the past, but we used to try and get rid as and when it happened. We certainly didn't get rid of all the soil in the beds and they get toppedup each year as the levels fall and you want to make sure plants grown in raised beds are well fed. Things got better when we got a kitten, he keeps the other cats out mostly. Last year we finally got some chickens, so we let them range over winter. They cleared every bit of weed or dried up veg left on the beds, dug it over and added ahem manure as they went as well as keeping the cats off.

Mind you we have now fenced them off the beds which they aren't happy about lol. One is very cheeky and an escape artist. Whatever we do she seem to get out doh.

Before i could get her back in earlier today she had dug up my newly replanted strawberry bed .

ali x

randomer

I am dangerously obsessed with this,having recently cleared 2 large bag fulls from small garden. My little veg/herb patch I've covered with binliner and everywhere else sprinkled olbas oil. So for so good.