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Since October 2011 I have been unable to plant or grow anything in my little back garden due to the fact that my (and South West Water pipes) had collapsed. 

Finally over a year later and with 3 companies involved the pipes are repaired and the huge hole in my garden filled in.

I would like to get planting in my garden this year but would it be wise since the contents of what where once in the pipes are mixed with the soil now. More im thnking of the cleaning chemicals ( Toilet Duck and Flash) I put down rather than the erm.. Poo !

Ive been advised to let the soil settle, but by April it shouldve had plenty of time to do that, I still need to put the plastic 1m by 2m beds back but that shouldn't be a problem.

What do you think is it wise to start planting in April or?

you might want to ask a moderator to move this, or start a new post in "Basics"
Good luck :)

I posted this before in the wrong place.

I have finally got my garden back after over a year of chasing various companies to do repairs to the sewer pipes. My question is, is it safe to plant after the contents of these pipes are now mixed with the soil, I'm more worried about toilet cleaning chemicals such as toilet duck.

They have told me to let the soil settle, so I'm not going to plant anything until April, but should I leave it for longer?

I've merged the two topics - hope that's OK. 

Toilet Duck contains a small amount of sulphamic acid, according to the Safety Sheet issued by the manufacturers.  That could be harmful to fish, but won't affect plants.  Otherwise it's just harmless detergents, as is Flash.  Remember that these products are intended to be put down the drain, so they're designed to be benign.

Once everything has settled down and the soil microorganisms have stabilised you should be fine.  If it were me, I might avoid root veg for the first season, but that's more out of unnecessary niceness about sewage in the soil than any logical reason.

Thank you 

The main sewer that runs through our land burst several times before Severn-Trent finally gave in and replaced it. Sewage spouted out and flowed through our drainage ditches, which run alongside my veg patch. When this happened one February, the experts assured me that I would be fine to grow as normal that year, that any poo or chemicals would be neutralised very quickly.....and the weeds grew so fast in the bottom of the ditch afterwards...

Welcome back Mortality

Welcome back- I was wondering where you had got to.
Sounds very unpleasant for you.

We've got a sewer under the lane on our site. It's not very nice when it overflows and there are bits of toilet paper everywhere, but the ultraviolet soon kills the nasties off.

Before the First World War, my grandfather sent his family to collect the tomatoes that grew on the rural sewage farm. The seeds went through unaltered.

The contents of chamber pots ("nightsoil") used to be used as fertiliser up to Victorian times in the UK. The risk is in catching diseases such as typhus, typhoid, cholera - ie why if you visit certain countries you are advised not to eat salads. There are occasional outbreaks even in the US / Europe when something goes wrong in the supermarket supply chains. I would say that if you can't smell anything in the soil, you have nothing to worry about.

Quote from: Paulh on January 27, 2013, 10:23:52
The contents of chamber pots ("nightsoil") used to be used as fertiliser up to Victorian times in the UK

Might start shitting on my cabbages then!!!

I think cabbages prefer pee. 

The first couple of years I lived in Cornwall, we had a chemical toilet, It all ended up in the vegetable garden.

QuoteMight start shitting on my cabbages then!!!

Watch out for the catterpillars