Don't Step on a Bee Day

[scaryjim]

Technically (under EU rules) it is illegal to use coffee grounds to control slugs (or ants) ...

The Independent is usually fairly reliable, although I do wonder to what extent that regulation applies to personal use at home - an awful lot of EU regulations ban things in industry but not at a personal level. And people tend yto just accept it when people tell them that an EU regulation bans something apparently innocuous, because the press has spent so many years convincing us that the EU is little more than a jobsworth out to spoil our fun.

That said, I really can't be bothered to go hunting through for the exact wording to check I'll just keep making my "own recipe" of "mulch" to "improve the soil". Indeed

[Ttaskmaster]

All spiders - NCO & civilian - in & of themselves - shudder. Spiders with rank just adds a whole extra level of argh somehow.

We apparently had a huge nest of cluster flies or something up in the loft... Had absolutely NO idea, because my Spider Special Forces were doing their jobs and keeping them out of my life!

rabbits - no wrong place but pinching your lettuce; moles - no wrong place but 'spoiling' your slide rule lawn

Meh. We have dogs.
Every local rabbit and mole knows that they show their face in our garden entirely at their own risk!!
So far our boy has scored one rabbit. He's not allowed to go for it while walking out on lead, but at home or when off-lead, anything in the natural world is fair game... if he ever manages to catch them, that is!

If something HAS to go then it has to go (again, regrettably) but my idea of 'has to' is well toward the lenient, & inconvenient/unsightly aren't on the list.

Tell this to the wife - She's the reason we have so much pest control, both from allergies and from phobias.
Occasionally the Arachnid Assault Team will have been given the wrong target intel and venture forth from 'up there', so I have to go police them at the most inconvenient times like mid-game. Mostly it's just slugs, flies, fieldmice, beetles and local political representatives that require my murderous/relocation talents, though. I've also had to deal with cats, other dogs, sheep twice and lost postmen.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm in the mole's way, more so than the other way about. Hopefully at some point the Master Rabbit race will evolve and we'll get our turn , until then -

My house, my right of way and I was here first. There's a huge great crop-field next door that they're welcome to.
As for the Master Rabbit, I'll get bigger dogs and bigger airguns... or maybe just a 60mm mortar. I'm a better shot with that.

[Saracen]

Technically (under EU rules) it is illegal to use coffee grounds to control slugs (or ants) at it hasn't been licensed for such use and hasn't had an environmental impact assessment for such use. However you can use it as a mulch or soil improver!

http://www.independent.co.uk/propert...s-8081384.html

(and no - it isn't dated 1 April)

You can't use coffee grounds to control slugs or ants, but under EU directive 2007/143.2, EU Regulations for Environmentally Considerate Coffee Pot Emptying, and Directive 2004/71.9 Disposal of Flavour-Exhausted Coffee Grounds and Recycling, you are required to dispose of coffee grounds in an environmentally friendly and carbon-neutral manner, so as to minimise global warming, and landfill.

I dispose of mine by a process of natural bioreduction, while offering local fauna and flora some natural benefits.

Besides, in conjunction with my right not to be discriminated against for my culture, under the ECHR, I choose to dispose of my coffee grounds in the manner my family and community have employed for thousands (yes, I know when coffee was brought to the UK, but we're a precocious bunch here) of years AND my article 17 Right to freedom of expression of both culture and artistic creativity, and freedom of speech, said right having been upheld by several landmark decisions of the Grand Council of the ECJ, and the full ECtHR.

I just choose to express that creativity by the creation of artistic shapes, usually circles, of coffee grounds and it is pure, unmitigated coincidence that there happens to be a plant pot in the middle of the circle.




And if you bought that, I've got a superb condition, almost new, barely used, marginally pre-owned utterly, totally genuine Rollex here going for a bargain price. I'll even throw in a decent cuppa coffee when you collect.

Yes, I said Rollex.

[snedger]

What part of 'no..'

If it wasn't for the fact that it is a warmish summer's day, I would be getting me coat.

[Saracen]

.... Mostly it's just slugs, flies, fieldmice, beetles and local political representatives that require my murderous/relocation talents, though.

.....

ROFL.

I have a similar lack of tolerance to pests and vermin .... though I'm not that bothered by slugs, flies, fieldmice and beetles.

[sammyc]

My house, my right of way and I was here first. There's a huge great crop-field next door that they're welcome to.

As you have probably gathered, where 'mine' = I've fenced off a bit of something for max double figures left on the planet & put up a Dunroamin plaque is as meh to me as rabbits' rights are to you.

Viz I was here first: So any incumbent moles that may have happened to be there before you would have been deferred to, would they?

As for the Master Rabbit, I'll get bigger dogs and bigger airguns... or maybe just a 60mm mortar. I'm a better shot with that.

Ah, doesn't work like that, sorry - clearly I meant we would be of equivalent defencelessness, so good luck getting out of your cage/lab & getting your mitts on anything useful. These aren't just big bunnies, these are the new us.

Anyhow, we aren't going to meet on any mutual unkempt tussocky ground here I imagine, barring open season on postmen & the Lib Dem man with my blessing, so I'll leave you to it.

[sammyc]

If it wasn't for the fact that it is a warmish summer's day, I would be getting me coat.

Well, I won't pan you too much for low-level lavatory humour (as long as you aren't going to be percisternt..)

[Ttaskmaster]

as meh to me as rabbits' rights are to you.

Rabbits are not native to the UK, as I understand it. They were brought over by the Normans as a food source... similar to Grey squirrels.

Viz I was here first: So any incumbent moles that may have happened to be there before you would have been deferred to, would they?

Actually, yes.
Until a few years back, much of the vermin had been kept at bay by the farms' cats that have existed here since at least the 1800-somethings.

These aren't just big bunnies, these are the new us.

OK, so 81mm mortar, then!!

Anyhow, we aren't going to meet on any mutual unkempt tussocky ground here I imagine, barring open season on postmen & the Lib Dem man with my blessing, so I'll leave you to it.

NOOOOOOOOO - Postpersons are perfectly fine, with many valid reasons for visiting!!