somethings living in my compost bin?!!!!
My family and I have been keeping up a small compost bin for over a year now and it has turned into some pretty good looking soil!! :)
Unfortunately there is a hole in the soil of our compost bin and it tunels through the bottom (our bin sits right on the ground with no barrier) and into the neighboring metal trash can filled with birdseed. We think it may be a gopher/ground hog. Should I be concerned about getting rid of it ASAP? I'm worried that it may potty in there rendering all our hard work useless. We were hoping to put at least some of it on our veggie garden this year, although we will have to buy some organic soil from another farm because we have six raised beds, 2 blueberry plants, two black berry plants and two separate bean trellis. Has anyone else dealt with this/ have any suggestions?
Also, I was thinking about how to be more Eco friendly and budget conscious when considering all the projects my family and I want to complete by the end of summer and considered planting a bunch of wild flower and ornamental grass varieties in the bottom of our yard. I thought it would be a beautiful mix of colors and decorate the bottom of the yard leading to the wooded path and edge of the woods (we dug out a bit of the woods a couple of years a ago and there is a stream but there is also a massive drop off of about 15-20 feet at the end of the woods before the stream so we never really go back there). It would decrease our use of the riding mower and add to the surrounding Eco system but I am worried that it will attract more bugs/animals to my near by vegetable garden beds or contaminate my beds with their seeds that catch wind. I am thinking of putting a fence around my garden to keep out rabbits/mice/deer/mystery creatures anyway and I`m going to plant butterfly bushes in a corner near the garden and sunflowers against a shed near the other end of the veggie garden. We also use organic methods like using strong herbs of rosemary, thyme, parsly and basil to keep out bugs, praying mantis/lady bugs and bird houses to attract birds to eat the bugs. Does anybody have any suggestions or experience with it? I'm new to this whole gardening thing but really like it so far (my mom always has/will garden but works a lot) and would love to have suggestions.
First off, your living area sounds beautiful! Second, I would move the compost and put something under it to separate the soil from the ground. I'm having a hard time picturing how your whole compost bin and birdseed bin are set up.
Have you ever thought of planting a bee garden? A bee garden is a garden of flowers that attract bees and can be very beneficial to whatever neighboring crops that you have. You will always have to deal with spreading crops but as long as you weed/keep the garden nice and up-to-date then it shouldn't compete with your intended plants too much.
I would move the bird seed to something solid with no holes and a tight lid. Preferably not a plastic bin as they can be chewed through. The creature is prob living in the composter because it is warm, and the seed is a nice food source.
Thanks for the advice guys! My compost bin is a square one made of plastic. Its about 3 feet high and 3 feet across with small openings of about 1 inch between thick boards going all the way up from the ground to the top (the bin was designed like this to allow for aireation and faster bio-degrading).Its sits on the ground up against the side of our back porch and the metal trash can with bird seed sits directly beside it to the right. It sits on the ground via its design plan to allow for the same things the spaces between the boards achieve as well as access to earth worms (an unfortunately gophers :-\). I suppose we could create a barrier between the soil, bin and ground and just add the worms later but we would have to lift up a very heavy load of soil. I agree that he/she is probably in there because its warm and has a steady food supply and I don't mind as long as it stays out of our house and bird seed and doesn't contaminate it. I'm surprised it was able to chew threw the bottom of the metal trash can! :o I suppose it could have been rusted at the bottom from being outside though. We will have to put it in a different container as soon as we can if my mom wants any bird seed left for winter.
A bee garden sounds nice but I'm terribly allergic to bees. They seem to be attracted to butterfly bushes so we will probably have some anyway. I think I'm going to plant those wild flowers and grasses after all. We will also be working on the raised bed veg garden, planting azaleas and other flowers making a peace spot for our dogs that have passed, cleaning up the flower gardens and a million other projects, lol. I will have to take some pictures of our yard to show everyone the different gardens and projects we're working on! Its really beautiful almost every season except this one (Although my mom thinks its beautiful when it snows on our pine trees). I'll keep everyone posted with the progress of the yards and gardens!
Just FYI if you have deer issues, you will need a fence up to 12 ft high to keep them out. Deer can jump up to twice their hight. My Grandma has been gardening in upper WI for 30 years, the fence kept getting higher and higher. I think she has it at 10 ft now. My grandpa built her a permanent enclosure of 2 by 4's and chicken wire to keep them out.