More new members have wandered into our garden. We are glad you have joined us and hope you make yourself right at home. There are no stupid questions here and we love it when people share their experiences, pictures and thoughts.
I just joined this group as I am not that expierenced and have a lot to learn. I have started going to the local farmers market and yesterday bought a worm bin and worms. I will have it delivered this week and the seller sets it up for me and teaches info about it. I am really looking forward to it. I had read about the worm bin in a beginners garden book.
My daughter had a worm bin when she was living in a townhouse and only had a small patio to garden in. She swears by them and gave me a demonstration when I visited. It's really a pretty easy concept and apparently there is no odor. Worm casting are one of the best additives to your soil there is, so I think you're going to be pleased. Keep us posted on how your doing and what procedures you're following. Pictures would be great too. We can all learn with you!
Is this a homemade worm bin that the guy selling it made? I haven't browsed any seed catalogs in years, and probably would not buy a commercial one, I wonder how I could do a homemade one.
hello to all garden greeters and thanks for the invite to your insight.My name is texasblu and altho the subject at hand is worm beds, I have a coupla beasts attacking my garden and yard that I have been battling for about 2 yrs now,,, Gophers and Moles. they just destroyed my favorite rose, Don Juan, and have devoured both grape plants, one hydranga 2 azaleas 1 gardenia and several other specimens. I have tried my best to stay organic battling these ground devils but I'm almost to the point of turning into bill murry and blowing every runner and mound up with dynomite. I sure could use some new measures to take against them, minus poisons as i have pets as do my neighbors. I have tried things from traps to coyote urine( haha I know but the gardening agent swore it really works and did for very short time but very expensive.
Boy, you have lost a lot of nice plants to your varmints.
I have to say, though, that moles are absolutely not eating your plants. They are insectivores. They eat worms, grubs, beetles, and other soil dwelling bugs. They do not eat plants or plant roots. We don't have gophers here in PA, but I am sure they are as vexatious as the woodchucks and rabbits I deal with.
Moles will go away when their food supply dwindles. If you treat your soil with nematodes and milky spore, you will kill the grubs that moles love. They will go away and stop tunneling in your lawn.
You might have voles, which look a lot like mice except for their short tails. I have lost a few perennials to them, as they eat at the roots. I know that owls hang out here at nights (I have heard them at night) and they really love to eat voles.
You might consider using hardware cloth to deter gophers or voles. Depending on what you are planting, you can create an underground box out of hardware cloth which the little critters cannot get through. You can also use chicken wire laid on the ground and covered thinly with mulch, either stone or vegetative (bark, compost, etc). Some plants are distasteful to some animals. Here, mint is left untouched as are daffodils, to mention a couple.
Jack Russell terriers do a great job of hunting down and killing varmints. If you know someone who is raising them for hunting, maybe you could persuade them to come practice in your yard.
I will look into this a bit more, but in the meantime, hopefully some other members may have dealt with this problem and will share their solutions.
