Heavy Hitters!

Today I took my camera over to Nitro to take pictures of the fall planted daffodils.
I felt certain that they would be in bloom by now.
To my surprise they looked horrible. No flowers, and extremely small green leaves and the ground looked so whitish.
Well, something was done wrong. Wonder if a soil sample was ever taken in the first place? There has been a lot of weed killer put in that area to keep the area clean and clear. Then I wondered if any fertilizer had been added to the soil when they were planted. Then I wondered if the ground had been watered sufficiently after the planting. Was any good soil added to the ground when the bulbs were planted?
I stopped to talk to Rusty about the situation and told him I wasn’t called when they started planting. As a REALTOR, I’m excellent about getting back to anyone that does calls me.
My mother was very ill in the Fall and I was going back and forth to Fairmont but I would have stopped anything to have helped beautify our town. This has been my life’s work
I also stopped at Harvey Peyton’s office to talk to him but he was on a busy schedule today and I left a message for him about my concerns.
Harvey donated hundreds and hundreds of bulbs to the City of Nitro which was a lot of money and beauty for our town. He gave them to the City to plant.
I had 7 years with the Master Gardeners program. Was president of the St. Albans Garden Council. President of the Adena District Garden Council and was President of my own Garden Club in Brookhaven for 7 different terms, which is a subdivision in Nitro.
I am extremely qualified for projects of this nature. My input would have been freely given and a much needed help on this project.
When a person puts in over 40 years of their life in volunteer work and is a certified person that expects no money for a job well done, well, I could have saved this project. Nitro can use some free help.
There is still some hope for this project to turn around if Nitro will get a soil test. If they will do the steps that are necessary to insure that the work is done that is needed to grow flowers the correct way. I was looking so forward to this project having a great start and one that could encourage others in Nitro to follow up on additional beautification projects.
I hope someone will listen. I hope it will encourage people to do the job right and ask qualified people for their opinions the next time.
Thanks for reading my concerns.

maybe some of elmer fike's special chemical soil is buried up and down the main road..

toxic flowers.. ouch

Yes wvphoto we'll probably never know all the places Fike dumped on Nitro, but Nitro should be aware of this by now and take samples of the dirt before wasting time, money and good energy planting anything.
Everyone should know by now that anyone can pick up a free packet from the WV Extension office in Dunbar and put a sample of the dirt in it. The only cost is to mail it off and they will send you the report for free on what the earth needs to grow the plants. Most usually you can get a report in a week but, this is the busy time of the year and could take a little more time to get the answer back. This should have been done before there was any planting ever done.

My heart dropped when I was told today that the daffodils had been mowed down.
I had left a message with Harvey Peyton’s secretary to remind him that the leaves must stay on after the flowers die and until the leave die down. This will ensure good growth for the bulbs for next years flowers.
A couple days later I thought I’d better call the mayor and let him know also. Something just kept reminding me that those bulbs might be in trouble.
I talked to the mayor and he assured me that he had someone in charge and they would take care of them.
You know, a flower is like a best friend. If you treat it right, give it nourishment, talk to them and abide with the rules of care they will last longer than a friend. I have bulbs in my yard that have been here 41 years. They are still beautiful.
I just can’t believe they mowed them down. Why....
I know Harvey got my message about the soil samples. Everyone told me he thanked me on the radio. He got the soil test done. Very good.
Everyone heard it but me. I guess I was too busy catching poison ivy from cleaning up my street.
And that is another issue.
I’m beginning to think the City hates me.
Last month on trash pick up day I had a lot of leaves and broken down trees they had to take.
The man told me right there that if I’d rake up the leaves left on the ground that he’d stop by on Friday and pick them up with the truck. I asked him if I could add some more limbs to the stack and he said sure. Well, he never came back.
The next week I called that trash department and told them that they forgot to come by and asked if they would be able to come that week. The man said we will be there Thursday. Well, no show again, so I called again the first of the next week and it was getting close to Easter, and there was a big mess out there. Another man told me they would be there Friday...Dah...no show again.
Well, I’ve quit calling and another week has gone by...still no acknowledgment and when I talked to Rusty I mentioned the situation to him....Dah...once again.
What does it take to get heard? We only have 7000 people in Nitro. No one has ever got the 2 in. water line changed for Bailes Rd. There has been no more road repair in Brookhaven since the election, and they even bought that truck thing that cuts up the concrete. Where is it? Is it hiding away somewhere. It was just about another $40,000 that Nitro just had to buy. It was going to save us money for road repairs. What a laugh...
I was over in Nitro, where that Church is on the main road where you cross the railroad. I think the street is something like Kapok...Lordy there is a piece of concrete sticking straight up there. I just did miss it.
Yes, I get very upset when I take off work to clean up my street, show interest in the beautification project and get laughed at and get told lies by our people in charge of departments.
After 4 weeks of poison ivy all over my body I think I might survive now.
I hope you have a great day tomorrow.
I checked out Kapok again today and the jagged piece is gone. Just holes now. More holes than street now.