We’ve spent an absolute fortune on topsoil and compost since we moved here. I’ve long intended to start making our own compost but it’s taken an age to get around to it. Our local council gave me a free 100 litre compost bin that I brought home to be smirked at by our gardeners. With three acres of garden, kitchen garden and agricultural land, we’re going to have serious amounts of clippings, grass, old plants etc and they’re all going to have to go somewhere. Compost bin kits seem expensive, and too small, so our gardeners decided they’d build us some instead. They’re absolutely huge! See below for before, during installation and after:
Our oldest son is delighted with them and is very much looking forward to how these huge boxes will magically turn pea pods and grass clippings into more soil we can sow seeds in. We built them using gravel boards that were alternated on the front and back to allow air to flow. They have no lids so they won’t compost as fast as bins, but they’ll basically be mini heaps. Hopefully we’ll be looking at more compost within twelve months. The thought occurs that I’ll probably need to put down some more rat traps though, so I think we’ll have to build gates around the bins in the working area of the kitchen garden.
Now that they’re done we’ve put a compost bin in the kitchen with compostable liners but to be honest I feel a weird reticence about throwing the first bag into the large outdoor bin because it’s just so big and empty, it feels like littering! Isn’t that ridiculous?
London to Land Girl 