In article . 151,
Victoria Clare writes
I find spreading a sheet of newspaper over the contents from time to time
then adding new stuff on top of that keeps flies down and helps stop the
whole thing going runny. The worms will eat the damp newspaper in time,
and in the meanwhile it gives them a bit of shelter, so they come right to
the top to eat the new stuff.

Shredded paper packing material and rabbit hutch cleanings are also good.

If your worm-compost goes grey, you are probably adding too much paper, but
the worms seem to survive OK!

The layers of unrotted cardboard in my compost heap are sandwiched
together with spaghetti- (or perhaps vermicelli-) like layers of worms.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Had to put wire mesh round my bin, after a rat gnawed a hole through
it. And we're not talking an average plastic dustbin - this is a 40
gallon plastic 'spice' barrel...about 5mm wall thickness.

That must have been one hungry rat. I'd have thought there would
generally be much easier pickings around. Was it the middle of winter?

Anna

~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England
|""""| ~ Lime plaster repairs
/ ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc
|____| www.kettlenet.co.uk 01359 230642

"Oxymel of Squill" wrote in message
...

I put all kitchen stuff in mine, including onion and lemon, torn up
egg
boxes are apprently v tasty too so I add those. And a helping of
dead leaves
and grass cuttings in season. I don't add egg shells, (I don't even
compost
them as they never seem to break up).

[snip]

What did you expect? They are pure limestone.
:{-))

Franz

On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 18:56:36 GMT, (Anna Kettle)
wrote:

Had to put wire mesh round my bin, after a rat gnawed a hole through
it. And we're not talking an average plastic dustbin - this is a 40
gallon plastic 'spice' barrel...about 5mm wall thickness.

That must have been one hungry rat. I'd have thought there would
generally be much easier pickings around. Was it the middle of winter?

Springtime - but even in the harshest winter there'd be easier
pickings around, what with the various nuts and seeds that get put out
for the birds.
I rather think that rats quite like the odd bit of plastic - I had a
rat in the outhouse one year and noticed that it had nibbled the
handles on the kid's bikes in preference to other accessible foodstuff
such as seeds and bulbs.

Either that or it was desperately attracted to the contents of the bin
- the maturing bin next to it was untouched.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{who is at}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk