Didn’t hear about this one until it turned up this afternoon on SPD Blotter:

Police were called to a dispute at a West Seattle P-Patch on Wednesday after a gardener hosed down a man who tried to treat the patch as his personal compost bin.

Just before 4:30 PM, officers responded to the 5000 block of 25th Avenue SW and met with the gardener. The woman told police she was working in the P-Patch when she saw a man dumping a tarp full of leaves, collected from his yard two houses away, onto P-Patch property.

She confronted the man and accused the man of illegally dumping the leaves. The man shrugged, walked off, and returned a short time later with another pile of leaves.

The woman told police she squirted the man with a garden hose as he was dumping the leaves, and that the man then started coming toward her. She alleged the man tripped her, knocking her to the ground.

Police contacted the man, who was sitting on a bench in the P-Patch, and he disputed the woman’s account, saying he had pursued her because he was trying to get the hose away from her. Officers noted the man’s shorts appeared wet.

The man said there was no sign regarding dumping, and agreed not to enter the P-patch again.

And now a PSA regarding dumping compostable items at P-Patches: “I would say it’s frowned upon,” says Department of Neighborhoods spokeswoman Lois Maag. “While we can’t condone spraying your neighbor, you should just use your own compost bin.”