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Re: hmm... what to do??

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

Dawn,

When in doubt, test it. As far as I know, your local extension office
will be happy to test a sample of the stuff and will alert you to any
contaminants (for all you know, they might have stored paint or motor
oil in that chicken coup ten or fifteen years ago)--it never hurts to be
too safe.

While you're at it, you might as well test your regular backyard soil as
well to check for any contaminants there, ph balance, etc.

Just my $0.02 :)

-J.Maier
 jmaier@mindspring.com

Dawn Gilmore wrote:
> well, this is the story...  We bought our house 2 summers ago.   On the
> back of the property was an old broken down, falling down, abandoned
> chicken coop.  As the lady we bought the house from is now 92 years old, we
> are quite certain that there haven't been chickens kept in there for at
> least 20 years.  Last night, my husband finished tearing it down and
> disposed of the rotting timbers.  He asked me what I thought the six inches
> of loose black crumbly stuff in the bottom was.  My thought was Compost!!
> But he wondered if it really was...  then he asked if maybe the timbers
> falling in it would compost too...  well, I'm pretty sure this was built in
> the day prior to pressure treated lumber... and after composting for 20
> years, would it make a difference?  Should I screen it (to get rid of the
> nails) and use it in the garden?  Should I have it soil tested first?

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The aesthetics of natural science and mathematics is at one with the 
 aesthetics of music and painting--both inhere in the discovery of a
 partially concealed pattern."

                      -Herbert A. Simon _The Sciences of the Artificial_


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