"Janet Baraclough.." wrote in message
...
The message
from "Doug Kanter" contains these words:


"Sed5555" wrote in message
...

Sounds a bit like the water-storing polymers that are used in some
potted
plants, but I can't imagine why your neighbor would be adding them to
yours.

Kindness, or helpfulness because he too enjoys her potted plants?

I think you based your remark on the previous theory that someone may have
deposited a watering aid. In fact, we haven't seen proof of that yet. But,
even if the stuff turns out be an attempt at helpfulness, I still don't
think it's appropriate for anyone to fiddle with your plants unless you've
had a chance to size up the person first. After all, how often do people
return from holiday only to find their houseplants looking pathetic (or
worse), and wonder about the friend who agreed to keep them watered?



There is a contagious lack of civility in neighborhoods these days.
People
should know that they shouldn't set foot in your garden without your
blessing.

How dismal, Doug.

Perhaps your garden has pathways. My situation consists of a big front lawn
with a deep border against the house, and people are welcome to come close
and enjoy it. But not step in the beds or deposit anything, unless someone
crazy feels like hanging money from the branches. :-)

Then, there's my new vegetable garden, which I will set up like my previous
one: There will be 18" square stepping stones, just wide enough for me to
kneel on. It would make me very uncomfortable to find an unknown individual
in that garden.



On the other side of the coin, I've occasionally come home to find
people wandering or sitting in my gardens, just enjoying them.
Neighbours sometimes bring their visitors for a look-see.In summer, I
don't fill the birds' peanut feeders; but every so often, they are
mysteriously filled up with fresh nuts.. and new plants are anonymously
left on the porch. I don't know who does those kind things and rather
like it that way.

Janet. (Isle of Arran, Scotland).


I had a few neighbors like that, Janet, and I enjoyed it. But, they all
sought some kind of affirmation that it was OK to get intimate with my
garden, before they set foot RIGHT in it. Actually, the children were rather
charming in this regard, but that's because they're so much smarter than
adults. I ended up transferring ownership of two rows to them because they
wanted beets, and more carrots than I was already growing.

But, you have to understand something about the Untidy States of America. A
rather significant portion of our population is exquisitely ignorant and
holds the belief that god has a special place in his heart for chemical
companies. Therefore, there is no way those companies would EVER sell
something harmful. If you believe otherwise, you're an atheist, a communist,
gay, a hippy, and all sorts of other awful things. I lived next door to such
a person, and literally stepped in front of her lawn care guy, who was
seconds away from hosing down my vegetable garden with a spray that was not
intended for use on food crops. I won't go into the discussion that ensued,
except to say that the bewildered cops stood there with handcuffs ready
until they figured out that the chemical guy was in violation of the law.

So anyway....if *I* saw someone placing strange gelatin-like blocks of
something in my garden, there would be trouble. Subtract evil motives and
what's left is simple: There's a 50/50 chance that the person doing it is
just plain dumb.