Learning History from Old Trash
Through the last year, every time I dug up a part of the back yard, I cursed the former owners. “Why is there so much garbage tossed back here!?” Luis tried to reason: “Maybe they didn’t pick up the trash for a certain period?” We have asked many people from “back in the day” and nobody seems to have a good answer.
Now that it’s spring, I’m cleaning the yard with renewed intensity so that we have something more to enjoy by summer. Always keen to find old labels and stuff, I snatched this up out of a pile of glass and old carpet, and dusted it off. It was a medicine label from a local pharmacy, from 1983. I didn’t recognize the name as that of anyone in the family we got the house from (they had been here since 1970). Then I realized the address is from the building two doors down. I had been blaming the massive mess on the owners of the house — why would they do this to their own property???, we constantly ask the wind. I was amazed they could even generate this much trash. It now seems that for 30 years, the lovely neighbors have been flinging their household trash into yards all around here. This jibes with contemporary stories of (and my own experience with) neighbors tossing trash over fences.
There is still plenty of trash that cannot be blamed on the neighbors — tens of shower curtains (they seem to have had a fetish), acres of shag carpet, an entire truck’s drive shaft — but it’s clear to me now that they may have just given up under the wave of trash and decay forced upon them by the times.
I still don’t have the whole answer, but the more evidence I find and people I talk to, the more I realize just how bad it was in Bushwick in the 80s.
April 25th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
“I realize just how bad it was in Bushwick in the 80s.”
Bushwick wasen’t bad in the 80’s ,the people of bushwick were bad in the 80’s
April 25th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Gross tag. is that pharmacy still arouind?
April 26th, 2008 at 5:39 am
“….but the more evidence I find and people I talk to, the more I realize just how bad it was in Bushwick in the 80s.”
You have no Idea.
Tony
April 26th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Yikes, wacky! There’s a bunch o’ trash that blows against our chain-link backyard fence and we can’t reach it but we can see it. OK, question: We have a huge backyard but it’s covered in ivy, which I imagine creates a great space for rats. Anyone have any advice on how I can get rid of the ivy? I was thinking I could mow it and then start digging it up. But I bet it will keep coming back. There are also those annoying weed tree things that are impossible to get rid of.
April 26th, 2008 at 11:55 am
I don’t think ivy is enough of a draw for rats, and it’s actually a nice groundcover. I’d leave it if you’re not just planning on turning your yard into a lifeless dustbowl. The knotweed has to be manually cut down every single day over a period of years. Or you can squirt bleach into the cut stems if you don’t mind poisoning your soil. That will speed up the process.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:54 am
its funny we have been spring cleaning over here too and we dug up the backyard (which we considered to be in awesome shape)to lay some paving stones.. we found all kinds of shit.. glass (of course) .. lots of chunks of some 50s bathroom tile and strangely enough the old school weights from the windows.. complete with the cords to hang them.. funny thing is.. those windows were most likely taken out in the late 60s , early 70s.
April 28th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
You can use “Round Up” to kill the vegetation you don’t want. It only kills the stuff it comes in contact with, when you spray it on it. It kills down to the roots. Some of the stronger weeds you may have to do again a couple times to get it to kill the roots too. It ONLY kills stuff it’s sprayed on, it won’t poison you soil, and you can plant stuff after you take the dead weeds out.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
I’m not surprised at how much garbage you’re finding in your yard. When I lived on Troutman I was contantly flabergasted by my neigbors and their disregard for the place they lived. For a while there was spaghetti stuck to my fire escape until the rain eventually washed it away. Then one morning I got up and there was a used condom sitting on my kitchen windowsill! My friend commented that now not only did I know what my upstairs neighbors were having for dinner, I also knew they were having safe sex! And in the kitchen no less! We were next to that renovated condo building (which was still unoccupied at the time) and they would throw their garbage onto the terrace, including a bunch of eggs. Now that didn’t smell pretty. One time I was in my friend’s yard and we saw someone dump a whole pot of soup out the window.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
One way to get rid of unwanted vegetation is to put down thick black plastic. In a few weeks without light or water will kill just about anything. Round-up will work but it is costly and not very eco-friendly.
May 1st, 2008 at 1:16 am
Thanks, everybody, for the gardening tips!