Well, I have a 4x8 bed lined with hardware cloth and am overwhelmed with gus right now! We planted our first about 5-6 years ago, then added some more when a couple failed. They weren't planted the 12-18" that was advised, but with adding soil and compost each year as things settled, things are going fine! Now, I'm sure we didn't get the same variety, I wasn't paying attention at the time, but I've had no problems. We apparently got some females in one of the batches, cause we get some bright red berries in the fall and get a few "babies" here and there. But it doesn't concern me! Asparagus is asparagus! Yum! Others might be more picky! Nancy

I checked it yesterday - hardly any rain is getting in at all, just enough to dampen the top layers. And I felt heat when I held my hand over the middle!! How exciting to have a warm compost bin in the cold rain! :-) It's shrinking too - it was almost to the top, now it's a good 3-4 inches down from the top. There was no smell either (well, a bit of a "damp newspaper" smell, but nothing offensive). I'll add another layer (kitchen scraps and browns) either tonight or tomorrow. I've been adding our paper towels to the compost crock, so those get mixed in with the kitchen scraps too, as well as tearing up paper and boxes to top everything off with. Yes, hubby actually made me two bins, and one is empty. I'm going to get a third eventually, but that will just be to hold extra "browns" so that they're available and ready to add whenever I toss greens on the pile. Now if my worms would just get here...I have a worm bin all set up just outside the back door, so I can split the compostable waste between the regular bin and the worm bin, but I'm still waiting on my worms...

If you can't hold your hand on it for 5 seconds, and it's up against flammable material such as wood, Yes! you have a problem. Call the contractor and electrician before you run it again.

I had some thatching ants try to move into my new raised beds the first year I had the garden. Those things build massive mounds (there's one at the property edge that's probably more than 2 feet tall, maybe getting close to 3') and they seem to bite. I just kept watering that really well every day and they moved along. I see them in the garden, but they haven't tried to build there again. We just leave that big mound alone and don't go near it. I always sort of wonder if they bother the person who lives on the other side of the privacy fence -it's not near our living space, but it is somewhat near theirs. Even though they bite and have huge mounds, they're not like fire ants. Fire ants are horrible.