Operation Compost

Where we live now you have to pay for green waste collection, which is fine I guess, I personally think keeping green waste out of landfill is should something that councils should be actively encouraging. Unfortunately the day before we moved the council decided to stop letting new people sign up for green waste collections, so my plan to get a compost bin was expedited!

I'd already decided that in this spot behind the garage I wanted to have two compost bins and a water butt, I am going to be putting veg beds and a greenhouse this side of the garden so it made sense to have everything together, it is also a spot that is always shaded so not exactly prime real estate! 

Like most things in this garden it started with weeds, there is actually a brick edge and gravel here, but the brambles and other weeds had taken over. This had clearly been a bit of a dumping ground for the previous owners, there is a water butt that I'm hoping is water tight as that will be one less thing for me to buy! I took all of the stuff that had been left by a previous owner out, cleared the weeds and pulled back the gravel. Under the gravel was weed membrane (not that it did anything to prevent the weeds!) So I also pulled that back, under the weed membrane was sand which made the next step much easier! I used the blocks that I think were left over from the drive being done and placed them around the edge so the wood of the compost bin wouldn't be sitting on the damp ground, I'm hoping it will extend the life of the compost bin.

After much googling and looking at compost bins online, I decided to go with this one from Crocus as it was the best price I found and from a company I knew to be reputable. Annoyingly it's out of stock at the moment so I hope they are going to be getting more stock in as I wanted to get a second one!

It was really easy to build as it just slots together, I lined the bottom with cardboard in the hopes of preventing any weeds regrowing underneath, and that was it! Compost bin done.

It's about 3/4s full now, we've been putting raw veg scraps from the kitchen, grass clippings, and loads of leaves from the big oak trees opposite. I'm hoping to get a bokashi composting set up soon, but to be honest it'll probably wait until after I've bought a load of plants. I've never had a garden big enough for a compost bin so this was really exciting for me!