Re: [gardeners] Re: Interesting day...
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 18 Oct 1998 18:04:50 -0700
You oughta see the looks we get when Miz Anne comes in with a load of
almost new horse manure. The next day you can't smell it because it's
mixed in the compost bin with a lot of other stuff. Shoot Thomas, I live
in an industrial area with one very large refinery about 2 miles upwind
of me. No one down here gets excited about a methane smell unless it's
fresh and close to the house.
George
Thomas Giannou wrote:
>
> Yesterday, I had put some Biosol Organic fertilizer on a neighbors lawn. I
> was given some free mycorrhiza inoculant and had put it on my neighbors lawn
> about 4 weeks ago. He had turned his water on today to water in the
> fertilizer and it was giving off an odor. The hose next to them is being
> sold and is down wind. A couple of realators were standing outside and I
> walked over and asked what was going on. They said, don't you smell the
> natural gas? I said, what you are smelling is fertilizer. Oh, I have never
> smelled fertilizer like that before. That's not fertilizer. I said, yes it
> is. I put it on yesterday and that is what it smells like when wet. She
> had called the gas company and we watched a fellow go around with his
> sniffer equipment for about an hour. Finally he went over to my home and my
> wife held out some fertilizer for him to smell. I then came over from the
> neighbors and explained to him that it is an Organic fertilizer registered
> with the State of Washington for growing food.
>
> He then said, that's an interesting smell. How would it work on alfalfa?
> It should do fine. In fact it is used to reclaim land stripped of soil in
> mining operations. It is non-polluting and you can buy about 375- 55lb bags
> of it at about .32 cents per pound delivered according to the guy who sells
> it out of one of the rocky mountain states. I knew that because I wanted to
> get a better price, but what would I do with that mound of fertilizer and
> where in the world would I store it? Anyway, I showed him my raspberries
> and strawberries and pepper plant and lawn and said I had used that same
> fertilizer and it worked well.
>
> I guess organic gardening materials can have their downside if people are
> downwind.
>
> He did say my lawn looked great for this time of year. It is so green when
> everyone else's lawn is turning a dormant brown. He was also impressed with
> my 9 foot raspberry plants.
>
> Best Regards,
> Thomas Giannou