On 13 Dec 05 at 20:38, Diane Whitehead wrote: > Jane's need to protect rare crocus bulbs from being eaten by rodents > reminded me of something I found when we were cleaning out my > grandmother's house. > > It is a small strong wire cage with a handle. ...it was used to hold the remaining > small pieces of soap which would be swished around in a basin of water. No need to resort to such a makeshift. It's quite easy to cut and form hardware cloth (wire mesh) into bottomless "boxes" for your bulbs. I'm not sure just what mesh size is fine enough to keep the critters at bay, but 1/4" ought to be fine enough. The bulbs can send shoots up through a coarse mesh with no difficulty. Indeed, I have the idea that a flat piece of hardware cloth placed over newly planted bulbs would block critter access as long as the mesh extended well beyond the bulbs. Just how this works when you're digging around, I dunno, but it might be worth a try. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island