Friday, November 13, 2009

Things I've Dug Up


A couple of days ago I tweeted (and FBed) a question: What is oddest thing you've dug up while gardening? Here are the collected answers from the cute to the macabre to the downright bizarre:

TheNatrlCaptl: A Masonic ring. And horseshoes, about 10" deep.

tinkhanson: I found a civil war cannon shell digging in our yard, unexploded - still have it

bcbolin: We are down the hill from Bunker Hill Road (very old road b/t Bladensburg port & Georgetown) & we've found canister shot

Plantweenie: We dug up about 50 pairs of panty hose....so creepy. All while trying to plant one shrub.
OurLittleAcre: I once found a door peephole thing while planting a tree. Odd, since this was native woods before house was built in 1975. That peephole thing made a great gazing ball stand (w/ a marble on top) in a fairy garden!


AdrienneB: A dead mouse, which promptly ended my gardening.

For my own digging, I mostly find pennies, small plastic toys, pieces of old bottles and ceramics, and lots of metal things like door hinges, large engine screws, sections of old pipes, etc. Nothing crazy, but I have many more years of digging to go.

Then there are all the things I have not had to "dig" for per se, but were thrown into my yard by creeps and the careless, which I then discover under shrubs or in the groundcover-- crystal brandy tumblers, baby blankets, tennis balls, condoms, broken bike locks, credit cards, school papers, the odd earring.

One day I found a Greyhound ticket to Texas dated for the following week. I walked it over to the bus station a few blocks away. They were not exactly enthused about getting it turned in. I suppose I could have sold it and the people in line there told me I was crazy not to (apparently it has some street value), but I naively thought whoever was visiting and lost it might retrace their steps and check back at the station for it. Next time, if there is one, I'll do it differently.

What have you found in your gardening adventures?

6 comments:

  1. When we first moved into our house we unearthed a goat skull when we started digging a vegetable garden. Later we found out from the neighbors that the previous owners had goats.

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  2. Whew - bet you were thinking voo doo, huh?

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  3. I was re-planting a large pot on my parents patio when I reached in and felt . . . fur! My Dad will never let me live it down that I danced around the patio screaming "Mouse! Mouse! Mouse!" over 4 baby bunnies.

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  4. Hmm, feeling fur unexpectedly is never good - but baby bunnies, awww!

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  5. weird about the pantyhose!!

    During the reno of our weedy slope, we found lots and lots and lots and lots of gin and vodka bottles. We thought it was the people behind us who used to have a lot of parties until we found a couple of bottles hidden behind the furnace when it was time to replace that!

    Scott - and you know Scott - took a very heavy urn that came with the house when we bought it, and buried the base of it in the middle of the creek across the street. He intended for some kids to find it and use it as some sort of wishing well or something. We didn't know our city does an annual creek clean up and our neighbor actually dug it up and lugged it back to her house. Guess she felt she found quite a treasure!

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  6. The urn that keeps returning - a new Stephen King novel...

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