Will mouse droppings affect the quality of my garden soil?

Greetings,

I have a two fold question but both are related. This past winter I had a mouse infestation in my home, garage and shed. With the help of an exterminator we were able to get rid of the problem.

I stored peat pots filled with soil in my garage to use this year. I didn’t think to smell them, however I used them to start my seeds for my food garden a couple weeks ago. Now they stink strongly of mouse urine. Are the veggies grown in these peat pots safe to grow to maturity to eat?

I also stored 5 gallon buckets full of soil used for tomatoes last year out in my shed. When I went in there in early spring I noticed mice had burrowed down into the buckets and created quite an array of mouse houses. I haven’t dumped out the buckets yet but they are all sitting outside – with the rain and that freak snow storm we had the other day hitting them. They do have holes to allow for drainage. Is this dirt safe to use in my raised garden beds? (Assuming there’s only urine and droppings in the buckets)

I hate to dump all that soil and waste my seeds as they’re all organic and mostly ready to start being hardened off.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,
sericecho@yahoo.com

Posted by J Nicnivin on March 27, 2014