What have you done in the garden today? Part 6

[MereDintofPandiculation]

What have you done in the garden today? What went well? What surprises have you had? What could have gone better?

Thanks, I'll have a look

I do think we will never be rid of ALL the rats. We have chickens, neighbours have chickens, livestock are kept in a field behind us, horses in front of us, and we are very near to grain stores and farmland. I can see the routes rats take through the old drystone walls into our allotment and garden. I can't stop them, I know.

Sadly I am encouraging vermin to congregate. Anyone who has a compost heap is creating an environment that rats love. Growing veg and feeding my chickens does that too. I just crave a small amount of control. 😧 I will look into the professionals, thank you.

How often do you turn your compost? Rats don’t like disturbance.

At least 4 cats use my garden. The only time I had rats in the heap was when I was temporarily catless

Agree with regular turning, disturbance and noise. When I had plastic daleks I'd give them a kick when I walked past!

I have got one of those compost tumblers but I haven't used it this year as last year we did get a rat in the house and the whole family blamed my compost tumbler. They can't get into the tumbler but I did think they might have had a valid point with the food smells. I did try to stay consistent with the mix of green and brown waste as well as water, but found the tumbler was very thirsty and would dry out a lot too.

We also live at the bottom of a hill and our drains flood often so any rats living down there do occasionally climb out.

It's made me so anxious to try again. The rat cost us so much to get rid of and he was a sneaky little blighter and survived at least a month and a half after we discovered him by hiding from our traps. Got into our kitchen and ate through the dishwasher and sink drain pipe twice so had to sort out flooding. Ate through the grounding cable for the washing machine. I'm not scared of rats or mice but I am scared that if I encouraged one close or into the house that we might have expensive repairs or replacements again.

Interesting to hear of others' rat problems and solutions. I have had issues with rats for the first time this year (whoops, in 2024 I mean). In the late summer my dog worried at my bin until a rat came out and then he killed it. I thought the problem was resolved but a week or so ago I spotted rat poo at the top of my heap (in a dalek bin).

I bravely lifted the bin and poked around with a hoe (standing as far back as poss) and calling in my dog for moral support. Eventually a rat came out and my dog chased it off the property.

I decided I had no choice but to dismantle my compost heap altogether and bury everything. I am planning to restart the heap after a long enough period, but I need to find equipment and strategies that minimise the possibility of rats coming back

This year I think i might try some in-bed vermicomposters and add composting worms straight into the vegetable and flower beds.

I have cats and they have brought us two dead rats recently (within a few months of each other) but mostly they concentrate on mice. Possibly because they won't eat rats?

The not-so-frequent turning could be an issue. I did end up turning the one yesterday, will do the other two when the rain stops.

You need mean cats. Both I and my next door neighbour have ex-stray boys.

They are mean and will happily take down rats.

Unfortunately they are also equally happy taking down each other so we have to keep them away from each other.

I feel there should be a market for hiring a good ratting terrier pack.

in-bed vermicomposters
That's a new one on me, sounds like an interesting idea

I have two mini Schnauzers. Theoretically bred for ratting. In reality I’m not sure what they would do if faced with one but they are always very interested in the top right hand corner of the garden, over the wall to to where our neighbour has his compost bin.

We have a tumbling composter too, partially because I thought it would be less likely to attract rats. I've not seen any - and the composter is set up by steps that go down to the lawn with my washing line, a place frequented by the dog and cat, so hopefully we'll be OK. I hate the thought of rats too, for the reasons you list.

Bark enthusiastically?

Like you, we are very near livestock on one side of the road, plus the farm on the other side with animal feed in big storage containers in the barn, esp in the winter when they often keep the animals indoors.

I do turn our compost quite regularly and keep the enclosure covered, plus we have next door neighbours with cats that regularly prowl our perimeter fence, so I will be more tolerant of them crapping in our garden as they probably keep our rat population under control!

You are quite right, mine are not mean enough. Two of them, although full grown, are not much larger than the last rat that showed up dead. And the larger all-muscle tank cat that was surely the killer is...an odd one. If he were human he might be considered neurodivergent. He likes playing ball with the dog, getting soaked in the rain, sleeping with his chin on the floor and his bottom in the air like a doofus. He's a weirdo, not a fighter and I think we were lucky to get two rats killed.

They’re native worms (different species from the usual earthworm) and quick breeders, so if there is material to be broken down they will arrive and multiply

Not sure mine could take on a full grown rat but they keep on top of the babies. I’m content with that

I will be more tolerant of them crapping in our garden as they probably keep our rat population under control! The crap may be a good deterrent itself

Our previous cat did that. For a week we were presented with a dead young rat every day, at the back door. I think he did not continue because they were all gone! Sadly my present cats do not take orders.

I’ve been trying to interest mine in wood pigeons, to no avail.

You bring back happy memories of my previous cat, again. He did for many a pigeon, but these days I walk out into the garden and eight or ten pigeons fly up from my beds. He is sorely missed and not just as a hunter. Attentive in the garden like a dog, always following me around, and a purring lap cat in the house. Loved that boy.

And smaller birds did not seem to interest him!

Wood pigeons are rather large, so I'm not surprised at a cat rejecting that suggestion.

One of our local toms did manage to catch a woodpigeon a while ago, But then had no idea what to do next, so he sat on it to think about the problem. Being a cat, he promptly forgot what he was thinking about and a few seconds later was vastly surprised by a large flappy thing wriggling out from under him. Of course 'flappy thing' triggered the pounce reflex, taking him back to the start of the cycle.

Wood pigeons are rather large, so I'm not surprised at a cat rejecting that suggestion.

Pig seemed to delight in catching wood pigeons, and he would then eat them up, every bit. We would find some random feathers and wings on the lawn. I looked for a photo of him consuming one for I have a few, but they were all too gruesome for the general population so I attach this one instead of Pig and me in the garden from 2013. He died an old man in 2020. Goodness I miss him.

Clearly Pig was an elite hunter, and top cat.

Wood pigeons are rather large, so I'm not surprised at a cat rejecting that suggestion. We once found one of our black cats trying to shepherd a live white rabbit through the cat flap. Another time DH was woken in the middle of the night by “trophy” sounds from one of the gingers. He got up to deal without putting the lights on, thought “that’s a big rat!”, came back for some stout shoes, returned, this time with lights on, to find the gingers had brought in a wild rabbit.