WWYD re: dog poop

[westcoastlady]

Okay, so we bought a townhouse in February which meant the back yard was covered in snow.  They had shoveled off the deck and it looked good.  They told us the back half was just grass.  However... when the snow melted... the grass was covered with dog poop.  

As you can see, it was pretty gross.  This poor dog must have just lived out there and I don't think they ever cleaned it up.  There was also lots of dog hair and cigarette butts as well.  We've scooped up all of the poop and raked the lawn, but it still just feels gross.  I have a two year old and a 6 month old.  I want them to be able to play down there but I don't know what to do to make it safe for them.  I almost feel like laying down sod over it.  Someone suggested spreading lye over it to kill anything nasty, but I don't want my kids playing on lye either.  

Any suggestions??

[Ldavis24]

I would spread some Food Grade DE...Diatomaceous Earth...It is something I use in my chicken coops and it help prevents all manner of internal and external parasites plus it is almost totally safe (you can actually ingest it but obviously you don't want to... I actually mix a small amount into the chicken's feed because it helps prevent worms..

It should kill any nasties and be very very safe for your kids....After that I would probably either buy actual turf or do a major grass seeding and not let anyone on the lawn while it took for a while...Turf would be faster and not crazy expensive (although not cheap either) for a small area like that. Then your kids could play on it pretty quickly...

On a side note, that is just disgusting and makes me feel terrible for that dog....Just really really gross, sorry about that.

[AFWife]

I agree with the DE. Put that down first. If you can't afford to seed or buy turf you can just spread some organic dirt over the DE.

[Ldavis24]

i'd do a thick layer of de though...to really cover the whole mess... a good solid sprinkle.