Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest. ~Douglas William Jerrold, about Australia, A Land of Plenty
Good afternoon everyone,
I trust you are all well and gardening happily. I’d like to thank everyone who expressed get well wishes during my brief convalescence. I am fairing much better and have joyfully resumed my activities in the garden. I am more cautious but not overly so. The hubby insists I wear more protective clothing because I am a “bug/arachnid magnet” but I think he is being a bit overprotective. LOL
I wanted to share a few incidents that occurred lately in my world. I picked up a few bags of potting mix from a home improvement store (I know it sounds like I am cheating but it was purchased with a gift card because I have been pressed for time lately-typically I make my own medium). The soil is manufactured by one of the largest garden supply companies in the country. The bags basically contained large wood pieces, weed seeds, fungus spores, gnats waiting to hatch and a minute amount of soil. I was livid and of course, I had to throw it away. I did a bit of research and found out many people are having problems like mine or worse. Not good. I won’t make that mistake again.
I mentioned in a previous post about the benefits of utilizing your town’s compost resources. I have used several sites here to obtain free compost for my garden but a friend of mine found broken glass in her piling as she was transferring it to a container. It was disturbing because she rarely uses gardening gloves and she could have been seriously injured. I am not sure if the leaf donation bags were not checked properly last fall or if someone carelessly threw the shards in the pile but I will be using a homemade sifter I made from an old window screen from now on.
Well, I have to run. Enjoy yours gardens!
Angela
Both my gardening girlfriends make their own compost. I must jump on the bandwagon!
ReplyDeleteSounds great!
DeleteI love making compost but have bought bags too. Never had any bad experiences with purchased stuff yet. Will have to check out any articles about problems .. thanks for the heads up.
ReplyDeleteNo problem. Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteCan you give us a hint about the producer of these not so fine. I seldom buy the bagged stuff in box stores but I do have my own favourite which I identify as Sunshine Mix #4.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear your are returning to health.
Clayton
Hi Clayton...the hint can be found in the title of this post (key word: Miraculous). Now, do you know the producer without me having to name names? Can't be too careful these days. I could get slapped with a slander lawsuit. LOL :-)
ReplyDeleteGot it. You should report it to them. Most companies really do appreciate knowing because they will check the lot to see if there are other issues which will come back to bite them. This being a large producer they need to be aware that their product is falling on it's face!
ReplyDeleteClayton
I think they have to know because many reviews that I've read have spoken negatively about the product, pointing out how much the quality has gone downhill in recent years. I'm sure the company has added lower cost ingredients to save money and increase profits, which is sad because people who were customers are now looking for alternatives.
ReplyDelete