Coun Nigel Sherwood suggested North Lincolnshire Council might be in a position to make use of some of the 'horse muck' generated from the travellers' site, off Atherton Way, by taking piles away to spread on flowerbeds.One of Brigg's three representatives on the unitary authority, he told the Town Council's monthly meeting last night: "Horses are back on the Donkey Field."
Coun Sherwood's comments came as he gave an update on the travellers' camp and the steps being taken.
For the benefit of younger Brigg folk - and those who might have moved to the town in recent years - the Donkey Field was just that, decades ago, long before the upgrading of Barnard Avenue to become part of the main A18. Donkeys were kept there, and the name has lived on into the modern area, although the four-legged animals are now of a somewhat larger variety.
When I was a tiddler, it was common for little old dears to peer out of their windows waiting for the arrival of a horse-drawn cart - whether this be the bakers van, or the coal-maerchants dray.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as a horse left a deposit, they were outside like fertilizer off a shovel to stake claim to the magic garden potion.
Any steaming pile was not left on the ground for long and was rapidly scooped up and placed around the roses.
There was intense competition between the old dears to the extent that I witnessed a squabble between my best mate's gran, Granny Halton and elderly Miss Scantlebury to which the local bobby, complete with cycle clips and flapping cape, cycled to split the pair from coming to blows over th ownership of a pile of horse muck.
Those were the days....priorities were clear and simple. Stake you claim early and fight everybody else off!
But were these old dears actually benefiting their precious roses?
Any decent garden will tell you that manure needs to mature and rot. Spreading raw manure will take vital nutrients from the ground (for the process of decaying) and will deprive plant roots from such an important source, for example, of growth-stimulating nitrogen.
So if anyone wishes to get a barrow-load of droppings from Donkey Field, let the manure rot down for a year before using it for your seed potatoes.
And if you're making your own garden compost from food and veg waste...don't buy the expensive, commercial rotting 'accelerator' - when no-one's looking, wee on it, it has the same chemicals, there's a endless supply and it's free.
PS ..not bad, Nige...edging a 9/10.
ReplyDeleteYou've got me imaging what the White Horse's bar stools could look like.
And how about a stool pigeon!!....three-legged stool!!!
As they say, 'Only Fools and Horses go out in the Mid-day Sun'