By Rem Are Your Nuts Toxic? Are Your Nuts Giving You Grief? TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | JULY 2017 17 said I would take him. I called Dispatch to inform her of the situation. Oh, she was not too pleased with me. Turned out the couple had already waited 20 minutes and that’s when the whole water challenge happened. It hit me that Water Boy’s roommate worked at a bar mid-island and I could drop him off there so we could get the couple home pronto! That’s what I did. So, we had two cars off island around 2:30am - not good. I jumped in the bus and grabbed the Breezy phone. I was told to go to a bar on the south end and grab a group of three or four. At 2:45am, while loading up the bus, I saw a few folks I knew in need of a ride to 13th St. I asked them to get in please. We were off. I dropped the 13th St. people off and the phone rang. I had three on Tybrisa going home. I did a u-turn and headed south. Sitting at the light at 14th, I got another call for a group of two going to the north end of the island. I told them I would be there in 10 seconds, please be ready cause I was in a hurry. The group of two were standing at 16th and Butler and they jumped in. I rolled half way down 16th and told the other three lets go. Turned out that one of the three was Number 3 from the rescue crew. I got them all loaded up. If my math is correct, there were 8 people on the bus. Number 3 was still ranting and raving about the aborted rescue mission and was bouncing around the bus like a monkey. I turned around and he was working his way through the sun roof! I stopped the bus and started yelling at Number 3 to have a seat and keep his mouth shut. Please! We got to our first drop at 8th and Lovell. Two of the three got off and I asked them if Number 3 was going with them. They said “Hell no, get him outta here!” I asked Number 3 where he was going and he said home. Where is home these days? He told me First and Jones. Between 8th and Jones and 3rd and Jones, someone punched Number 3. A real rescue on the bus! I stopped, turned on the inside lights, and proceeded to the rear of the bus to defuse the situation. I told Number 3 that if he got punched he deserved it at this point. He did not like that response and wanted off the bus. Fine, get out! We released our grip on him and he punched the guy who punched him first - in the mouth. Long story short, I have a dislocated middle finger. Most of the riders are Breezy regulars but I apologized for the scuffle. The two young ladies that I picked up, going to the north end, were like, “This was the most excitement we had all weekend!” No charge for the entertainment on Breezy. All right, let’s not forget about Water Boy. Around 3:30am his roommate called from the mid island bar and told me to get Water Boy the fawk outta there. We picked him up and got him home. The excitement of the evening was over, but I think I finished up around 6am. Long weekend. I spoke with the flipped over boat owner for the real story. Get this, he said that the boat was anchored in front of Little Tybee as they were still camping. He told me it was just a bad spot to anchor and a few rough waves just turned the boat over. No one was ever in danger. In his own words he told me don’t ever call the police or Coast Guard for him. It never crossed my mind my nuts may be toxic until a good friend of mine decided to put in a new vegetable garden plot in her backyard. When we put in a new vegetable garden, the usual obstacles come to mind such as what is the soil like, do I have to amend the soil, how much sun exposure will it get, do I need to trim trees and what kind of veggies do I want to grow? Well, it turns out the big question you should be asking is what kind of trees are currently growing in the vicinity of your garden plans and hope the answer isn’t Walnut Trees! Walnut trees have toxic nuts. Not only are their nuts toxic but so are their leaves, bark and root structure. Walnut trees produce a compound called juglone that is toxic to a variety of plants. It hinders the plant’s ability to take up water or nutrients and eventually will kill the plant. In other words, the juglone chokes out the plant, leaving it gasping for air and a sipperoo of water. Neither of which will fix the problem, death is imminent. Naturally, the first solution that comes to mind is to cut the toxic tree down and get your garden in, but old naughty nuts has other plans. Once a walnut tree is cut down, the stump and all roots must be removed, as well as all the remaining decomposing nut hulls and leaves. It can take as long as two years or more for the residual juglone to be at a non-damaging level in the soil. So what to do? Actually, there are quite a few options to choose from. Of course, you can scrap your garden plans altogether and go to the market. Or you could cut down the tree, clean it up and wait fooorever. Or you can plant only veggies that will tolerate juglone (such as beets, corn, onions, carrots, beans, squash and melons). But if you want the good stuff like tomatoes, peppers and taters, don’t despair. The solution is relatively simple, build raised beds and if necessary, trim the walnut tree back so your garden is not in the drip line of the tree’s canopy (surprisingly, this area is most toxic even though the roots extend far beyond the dripline). Make sure and keep leaves and any debris from the tree out of the bed and off of the plants, as they will decompose and leach their juglone into your soil from the top down. Line the raised bed with a weed and root barrier like a thick weed cloth, wood, stone or concrete to prevent the juglone from leaching into your soil from the bottom up. Be aware of the different root depths of different veggies and build your raised bed height accordingly. For instance, tomatoes have deep root systems, whereas peppers and potatoes do not root down as far. Don’t be discouraged, nut up and grow a pear ;)
20298TB
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