I never tarp my compost pile and I live near farms with lots of rats so my pile must not be attractive to them. We did have them dig under our pole building this year and had to trap them.

I have 8 chickens and they make enough manure for my compost pile. That is the only manure that I add.

Rats are a common problem for farms here, and they do get into the compost piles. The solution is to chop or turn the pile frequently, especially when you see their holes in the pile.
I always had an open pile compost here, even in the winter. A lot of animals visit the winter pile, but I figure that's not a problem. They are just converting the food scraps into manure. Snowshoe hares especially tend to leave their manure right where they were eating, so it's fine by me. We have voles and shrews too, which don't generally do any damage - except occasionally the voles dig and eat something perennial you wanted to keep, during the winter. Rats weren't part of the picture, they never visited my compost until the construction started around here. It's too bad they have such a bad reputation for damage and disease, which makes them more unwanted than other animals. And another thing, the birds don't like them. The ravens let me know when rats are around, and in no uncertain terms, they don't like it!

Yes, I HATE rats. They are creepy but we also feed a feral cat and that helps I think. My hubby also has a large Cub Cadet garden tractor with a bucket and he frequently turns my pile which may also be a contributing factor to why rats do not get into the pile.

DSC01742 by Brownrexx, on Flickr

Actually, what is there to dig for unless it's carrots, potatoes, and sweet potatoes Carrots can be grown in deep pots and the two potatoes in non-soil or minimum-soil medium. It's not-till that gets an argument out of me. Most vegetables have their feeder roots from 4" to 10" deep. All the compost in the world isn't going to get much food down to them. With my soil being more humus than actual dirt, there is no reason why any of it needs to be worked in order to plant. But everything would be hungry waiting for compost to break down and nutrients trickle down. That's why I am now on the third Mantis in 35 years.

Much of that tilling is done in the fall so that the organic matter will have time to break down and be ready to feed the plants. For example, about 50 gallons of pigeon loft droppings were tilled into an 8x10 onion bed last fall. Soil base is 10" of my own making. Next spring, I will only need a single dry day to plant the onions with no further tilling. Takes a few years to get to that point but it's possible.

Martin

No Dig Organic Home & Garden - Charles Dowding & Stephanie Hafferty
ISBN - 978-1-85623-301-9

Another wonderful book with plenty of pictures - pretty much a collation of his other books and practices as well as recipes and other uses etc.

Must be nice to have your own chicken manure for your compost. Your property looks very very nice with that line of trees.


The only thing I can get is horse manure and bedding ( its free). I once needed cow manure for a garden experiment so we stopped at a place that had cows. I had envisaged walking the pasture and shoveling up nice cow patties. But guy sent DH and me into a paddock like thing with cows lumbering around pooping and peeing everywhere. Ground was covered in a slurry of cow excrement but impossible to get scraped up as it was so trampled. We would have had to dig holes. I don’t think he did it as a joke just thought that was what we wanted.