We've had a very rainy winter, spring and summer so far. Folks think I'm kidding when I say we have no mosquitoes, but our neighbors do. I think we're mosquito-free because of the garden. We have no houseflies or gnats either. We can walk down the road and be swarmed by all of those. We have 2 acres of open land and 2.5 acres of wooded land that is very wet in the rainy season. Moving water feature in the sun (a stream/waterfall, but could be something smaller). No mosquito eggs in moving water, but frogs and dragonflies are attracted to the water. They both eat mosquitoes. We grow a lot of lavender, nepeta, rosemary, basil, fennel, oregano, thyme, salvia and agastache in the garden. I think these deer and rabbit resistant plants also help keep down the mosquitoes, flies and gnats. Birds, lots of birds in our gardens. Even hummingbirds skim over the grass in the morning to eat bugs. My husband and I are big believers in the plants helping. We both grew up in NC and have never lived anywhere without mosquitoes, flies and gnats. I has to be the garden/habitat. Cameron

oops, was having one of my spells last night, & "keeping out undesireables" just made me snicker... I never have seen snakes in the compost, either; maybe the activity in the pile is too much for them. I usually find them in undisturbed places, like under the wooden pallets in the shed or in the bottom of soil-filled flower pots that haven't have plants in them for about a year. I wouldn't worry about these almost-always harmless creatures, especially if nobody's seen one in the area, & if I saw one, I'd leave it alone. Hardware cloth will keep out all but the tiniest snakes (hatchlings, which you aren't likely to have & which aren't likely to migrate to a compost pile anyway). Since your bees aren't aggressive types, like Africanized bees, they'll fly away when you start stirring things up. Just make a gentle start to turning the pile, so that they go away rather than get agitated. but I would be careful not to drown the bees; they are a gardener's friends (pollinators). I think as you gain more experience in the yard, garden, & compost pile, you'll become more comfortable with the critters we find "out there". The micro-critters in the compost have their place in the garden, the medium-critters like earthworms & bees have their place, & the macro-critters like snakes, & us, have their place, too. Best luck, & enjoy your garden & compost!

Cath, im not sure as i have always had 2 bird houses right there in immiediate area hanging on the green shed face above the doors. They do go to the trees once in a whilw but have never bothered the figs they enjoy taking baths in the fountain surrounded by the trees. Now 2 of my dogs do run after them but only when they land on the rocks or grass.Today when i came home from chaperoneing band practice my son told me to put on the gloves he thinks Romeo took care of one small bird and Butch finished it off but when i went out there it was in the link of fence and flew away it was one of many newborns this year. As for the squirrels well theres a story, we dont seem to have many that come in yard but one used to play with Butch the large dog when we had the wooden fence which was scalloped on the top like a wave type look. He used to run on the very top and Butch would chase it then the squirrel would stop look at Butch and make a ee ee noise at him and this really irratateded Butch but he could do nothing but bark at him and the squirrel would do this frequently like a game.We used to get pesky rabbits in our yard as well and another story about Butch almost getting one but he ran into the old wooden fence head on and it knock him to the ground as it really stunned him the rabbit luckily had ducked under the wooden fence as butch was right on him. Since having the newer chainlink fence i rareky see the squirell, the rabbits stay in neighbors yard and the birds still enjoy the fountain.I never have used nets but if need be i would take down the birdhouses. We get the nasty sounding blackbirds, sparrows, robins and some cardinals and finches which are pretty yellow and black and very small, ducks, and messy geese. The blackbirds like to try and raid the others nest. Lately i see more and more seagulls but they dont seem to land by us.SOwwy for long post to your simple question. Best Health Martin

I use Bt in my rain barrels, which is what I use for hydro. It's also used in agriculture as a spray and is a pesticide of choice for many low impact gardeners. Now, much seed is now genetically modified with Bt (Monsanto). A dab will do ya. I use an 1/8th of a "donut" in my barrels. It's all about surface area rather than amount of water. Mosquitoes will breed in my ebb and flow system if I don't use Bt treated water. So I don't see why they wouldn't breed in the aerogarden. Of course, the larvae are easy to ID, so just check. They will be little things about a quarter inch or less long that swim by whipping their tails around. Bt only kills larvae since the adults won't ingest it.