Orange Peels in Garden

[Alan Bell]

We see a situation differently and would like to describe it to get feedback from others.

We share a house with a large backyard. One corner of the backyard has a concrete patio with two benches. One of us is concerned with plants, gardening, conservation and recycling. That person ate an orange and scattered nine pieces of the peel in a flower bed next to the patio. His rationale was that the peels were biodegradable. The other of us is concerned with rules, order and appearance. That person felt the orange peels should have been placed in a trash can. His rationale is that the peels are ugly.

We're cool and the best of friends. This didn't set off WWIII. But after talking about it, we are curious as to what others think is proper. We tried to put this into newsgroups that would tend to favor one and the other position.

[Charles]

In an out of the way place, put some orange peals and watch how long they take to "bio=degrade."

They are about as bad as plastic.

This may help you in making a decision, which is right or wrong is up to you.

[Karen Wheless]

Even though the peels are biodegradable, just scattering them on the ground isn't the best way to decompose them. They'd probably be better off in a compost heap - otherwise they'd probably attract insects, animals, etc. that might be bad for the flowers. That would satisfy the environmentalist and the rationalist, wouldn't it?

I don't think it's necessarily "rude" to scatter orange peels in your own flowerbed, but since you share the flowerbed, you have to reach a compromise - it seems like there are ways to recycle the peels and keep both people happy.

Karen

[meirman]

In alt.fan.miss-manners on Fri, 16 Apr 2004 02:45:03 GMT "Alan Bell" posted:

You're both wrong. :) They shouldn't litter up a flower bed, and they shouldn't be thrown away**. If you have a big yard, there may be room for a compost heap.

**I throw such stuff away, and it doesn't bother me, but your friend doesn't want to. OTOH, you can't make a compost heap from one orange peel.

(Isn't there some other way to do this for small quantities, like digging a hole, throwing the stuff in and refilling the hole? No one ever suggests this and I haven't tried it.)

30 years ago, for reasons of helping Nature, I threw either a banana peel or some eggshell behind some bushes at Valley Forge. I think it was eggshell and people later told me that they didn't degrade well. OTOH, the bushes were very thick and evergreen and I doubt anyone ever saw the eggshell. So did I do the right thing or not? (Maybe I'll go back and see if it is still there.)

FWIW, there are a bunch of woods behind my house, and kids used to sit there sometimes at night and throw aluminum cans where they sat. I clean that part of the woods (which is visible to no one without working ones way through 50 feet of brush and woods) maybe once every

10 years, and for all that talk about aluminum lasting a long time, after 5 years the cans have several holes in them, and I'm thinking the whole can is thinner than it was.

Meirman

If emailing, please let me know whether or not you are posting the same letter.

Change domain to erols.com, if necessary.

[escapee]

I put all food scraps on my compost pile.

[Briar Rose]

Orange peels randomly scattered around *are* ugly. They look like someone threw trash in your flowers, unless your flowers form some kind of tight ground cover and the peels would be underneath them, or the peels are in very tiny pieces and therefore mix in well with mulching, or are in some other way made to look not like trash.

The peels don't have to be placed in a trash can, though -- the peels won't biodegrade in much of a useful fashion just scattered around on the dirt. If he starts a compost pile, though, he could toss the peels on there and do some good. Or he could dig a little hole and bury the peels, letting them slowly biodegrade out of sight.

As to which is more polite, which I assume is why you asked AFMM, well, the polite thing to do is for both of you to discuss how you want to handle biodegradable trash and come up with a plan that works well for both of you. I hope some of my suggestions above are of use to you in that discussion.

:) Connie-Lynne

-- "The sky is blue because Martians puke sapphires. I heard John Glen say this on Fresh Air." -- N. Jill Marsh

[Userb3]

"Alan Bell" wrote in news:PMHfc.142120$gA5.1701704@attbi_s03:

When I was a kid on going camping trips, I remember that someone would inevitaby throw down an apple core, orange peel, or some other biodegradable trash. The counselors would always make them pick it up, pointing out that while it may be biodegradable, its also unsightly, and visual pollution counts, too. Their rule was that we could either pack it out of the woods with the trash, or bury it, but either way the next guy down the trail got to see the woods free of trash, biodegradable or not.

So if your neighbor wants to bury the orange peels, then by all means, leave them outside. But the next person shouldn't have to look at something that visually isn't too different from a candy wrapper.

[Salty Thumb]

"Alan Bell" wrote in news:PMHfc.142120$gA5.1701704@attbi_s03:

If the objective is nutrient recycling, put it in a place that is condusive to that, like a compost pile OR if the peels were sufficiently small chunks, tilling them into the flower bed may be acceptable. Just chucking

9 hunks of peel in a flower bed and expecting Mother Nature to take care of it is tacky. A lot of things are biodegradable, but you really need the bio- stuff and everything that comes with it. If not, you're just setting up for a long time timetable and an orange peel on a long timetable, isn't anything but garbage.

if the objective is to be able to put debris where ever convenient, then buy the person an outdoor trashcan.

also, some people have said snails are attraced to orange peels.

[Uncle Mandrake]

Both of you are right. Orange peels are both biodegradable and ugly (when thrown on flower beds). However, you do not deal with the one characteristic by throwing them onto the flower beds nor with the other by throwing them in the trash.

The neat-freak should buy the eco-type a plastic compost box. This will place the neat-freak on the moral high ground, from which he may then sermonize (or declaim) on the theme that merely throwing biodegradable wastes around the landscape hardly constitutes responsible environmental awareness. If the eco-type squawks, tell 'im that the Internet said so.

[Telepath]

The orange peel is good for the flowerbed and therefore, that was the best place to dispose of them.

Have you considered a compost heap? The ugliness would all be in one place that way.

Regards

Telepath

[Frogleg]

Lots of stuff that is biodegradable is, nonetheless, garbage. Garbage scattered in flowerbeds isn't compost. Orange peels can be put on a compost pile or in the garbage. Imagine if the question had to do with an unfiltered cigarette -- quite biodegradable and possibly good compost material, but aesthetically noxious.

The question really is if one can be agreeable in avoiding things that irritate those around one.

[June Bug]

The peel-scatterer seems to have good intentions but should establish a composting area or container for live waste materials rather than distributing them willy nilly. The uncontained debris could attract unwanted creatures to the area long before it degrades and becomes part of the soil.

[JAB]

Wasn't there a thread about keeping cats out of a garden where someone suggested using orange peels? JAB