Not western NY but CNY here. I think everyone is mopey from the weather. I know I am! I've been having a rough time this year with my seedlings. I'm not new to gardening and still have had a terrible time with overwatering, damping off and fungal gnats. I can't seem to get any of it under control, which doesn't help my mood! As soon as we get sun and warmth again I think people will be popping their heads outside and think more about gardening. I think we're out of the woods as far as that 4 letter s word goes. However, the weather has still been anything but cooperative. I think a spell of nice weather would certainly go a long way and is long overdue!

Here's a 'Cut & Paste' of a post on this same subject, from last year. The Care & Feeding of Rats or How to Attract Rats to Your Wormbin Posted by shaul Israel (My Page) on Wed, Jun 5, 13 at 12:53 Last month I bought a couple Coconuts. Upon opening one of them I found it to be rotten and so I thought 'here's a new food, let's see how the worms take to this'. I cut out 2 pieces and buried them in one of the bins. Well the worms didn't seem too excited at first so I left it for a couple days. when I checked back after a week, something was different, there were bits of thread and feathers and fluff (things I hadn't put there). It also looked like something had been burrowing in the bedding. On closer inspection I found that something had gnawed a neat hole (2" across) in the side of the bin. The worms seemed to be okay but the coconut was gone. I cleaned up the bin and patched the hole, then I went out and bought a large 'catch-em-alive' varmint trap (the kind with a hair trigger and the door slams shut), and I baited it with coconut. Two nights later I caught a large rat (I've caught three so far), which is pretty good seeing as how my bins are on my patio, three floors up. I decided to conduct a scientific experiment. Knowing that worms breathe through their skins and have the ability to live (for a period of time) underwater, I wished to see whether rats could do the same. So I found a container larger than the trap, set the trap inside and filled it with water. Though I've only had two subjects on which to perform this important experiment (the third appears to have died from indigestion (perhaps too much coconut)), the results are conclusive: Rats Cannot Breathe Underwater; giving credence to the maxim: 'Drowned Like a Rat'. Moral of the story: Save the coconut for baiting the rodent traps and keep it out of the wormbin. Shaul P.S. A friend who spent some time in Hawaii relates that the Coconut growers there surround the tree trunks with sheets of tin to keep the rats from climbing the trees and gnawing at the fruit.

Hmm, I thought I responded to this thread this morning, how odd. Anyway, thank you everyone. After the suggestion of vole a lightbulb went off and the picture confirmed that's what it was. We have ample meadow voles around here. The chickens do not do a good enough job of getting the ones in the barn. I think the water buckets do a better job when they climb in there for some reason. I can't even guess how many we've found that way. These guys were in the garden though which is fenced. They are not getting to stay there though. I'm moving the nest today to just outside the garden and mama should hear them and hopefully move them to a new nest. If mama wants a buffet in my garden she is going to have to work for it. I've already lost 3 pepper plants (ok one was from my goat) and a broccoli. They weren't from seed either. I knew it wasn't a mouse or rat because of the tail. Same thing about the red squirrel who takes up residence around the house and in the soffit (tried everything with that one). I hadn't even though of a vole and we have loads of them, but sure that's what it is now.

There are some kitchen waste that I literally throw directly into/onto the garden coffee filter with the coffee grounds any onion or onion 'related' veggie Short list for sure ;) What else? Maybe lemons and limes and all citrus peels?