Gotham Cable News
June 13, 2008
"Manure King" Brings Life to Gotham Gardens
You can smell the gamey, rich scent for blocks around Jefferson Wileston's one-acre plot in the outskirts of Gotham. It's a smell that reminds one of the earth, of Mother Nature, and of country air. But what really matters to Wileston is not the smell but the shape — of the tomatoes.
Wileston says the huge size, cartoon-red color, and perfect roundness of his beloved tomatoes is really due to the "golden soil" he grows them in. "I can't really take credit. It's the king's doing."
The "king" Wileston is referring to is Jayson Berghoffer, better known as "the manure king of Gotham."
For over 40 years, Berghoffer has supplied Gotham gardeners with "the finest manure at the finest prices," as the slogan outside his Sheal storefront proclaims. "I offer all kinds of manure. I got your basic horse, goat, cattle, and sheep manures, but what really knocks your socks off is my own secret blend."
"The secret blend is the best," says gardener and long-time customer Maggie Lynn Peepers. "I don't know what Jayson puts in the stuff, but it has just the right combination of nutrients. My carrots love it, and it smells pretty good, too."
Peepers isn't alone in this feeling. Wileston's shop, "Fertile Fields," sells over 30,000 pounds of the blend each year. And the golden manure is not just a local market. Wileston gets his fertilizer shipped all over the world via the Gotham docks.
Wileston developed his secret formula after failing to find a fertilizer that worked well in the nutrient-poor soil of his Gotham garden.
"That was almost 50 years ago. I started experimenting out in my shed. Those fumes really got my head spinning sometimes and it drove my wife crazy that I was always back there mixing up the stuff," said Wileston.
But not even his wife's concerns could stop Wileston's quest for garden gold.
"I finally found the perfect combo for Gotham gardens, and the proof, as they say in my trade, is in the pooping."
