Partly fuelled by a desire to make better environmental choices (fewer plastic-wrapped bags of compost and making use of our, albeit limited, household food waste) and partly for economic reasons (we spend A LOT of money on compost each year as we top up our no dig beds), we decided to find a way to make composting work in our small, family-orientated garden.
My limited experience of composting systems is either the fiddly looking dalek-style bins or big pallet-encased mounds. Neither of these would really work in our garden. After some research and amazing advice from the Insta-community a while back, I decided to create my own composting system using heavy duty storage boxes.
It’s all very much a learning process for me as I strive to get that ever important balance between browns and greens but I thought I’d share with you what I’ve created in the hope that it might inspire you to give composting a go in your garden.
Firstly, I bought a heavy duty container. I bought one with clips to ensure the box stayed secure and prevented any pests (rats mainly) from getting into the box. I thought bigger would be better so opted for a 175L one… which, in retrospect, is too big! I’m going with it though and just need to find a way to tuck it out of sight. There were other ones that I could have bought but I liked that this was black (and so the little worms will be in the dark, which is just how they like it) and I also liked how robust it felt. I can honestly see this lasting years. Oh and it also has wheels, which will be very handy for pulling it out from behind the trampoline when I need to give it a shoogle.
I drilled holes close to the top of the box on all four sides. These assist with ventilation and air flow. I also drilled holes on the bottom, which are designed to help with drainage and also to create spaces for lovely little worms and critters to pop in and help with the process of decomposition.
We then added some soil from the garden, some compost and some cut up cardboard and paper. After that, and after a bit of research about what can go into the bin, we added some food waste.
It’s very much early days but I’m looking forward to updating you soon with our progress. Keep your fingers crossed for me! I’m really hoping that at least some of our annual mulch can come from our own composting sometime soon.
