Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Laura McKenzie" <laurabrownmckenzie@worldnet.att.net>]

Pat, someone on some list one time suggested to all members that the way to 
get around a neighbor who is unhappy about your garden is to find their weak 
spot and share what you can.  For instance, if they love hydrangeas and you 
have one, you might try putting a brick on a branch and then taking over a 
baby to share.  Just be careful.  I made the mistake once of sharing hot 
peppers because a neighbor said he liked them.  I had been eating them raw 
in the garden because so much rain made them very mild but when I took him a 
bunch it hadn't rained in a week and I didn't realize they had gotten 
hotter.  His wife told me I wasn't funny and didn't listen to my apologies! 
I think New Mexicans probably have a different definition of mild than 
Alabamians anyway.

  I did have one neighbor who didn't care how much I shared with him.  He 
would spray roundup on my vetch if it even looked like it was coming in his 
direction. He took out several cherry trees in doing so.  We were very glad 
when they moved!

   I for one would love to have you as a neighbor.  Some around here don't 
care how much their dogs bark or how much noise their kids' and friends' 
4-wheelers are making.    : )  And one, who moved, let his dog eat our baby 
trees every time we planted new ones, the back porch screen and the screen 
on our front windows and never did a thing to stop him!

 Oh, if garden produce isn't a weak spot, maybe baked goods are. Explain 
that the carrots in the carrot cake are from your garden.

Regarding Freecycle, I was able to get a bunch of leaves that way.  I filled 
my entire van from front to back with leaves from one house and contributors 
didn't seem to mind at all that I made sure they didn't use herbicides 
(since grass gets raked up with leaves typically).

Laura
> <>``    ><>``     ><>``     ><>``      ><>``    ><>``    ><>``
Laura's Homeschooling, Garden, and Genealogy Site
is found here: http://home.att.net/~ekyorigins
``<><    ``<><     ``<><     ``<><     ``<><     ``<><      ``<><