Report from the colonies:

I moved to my present garden in 1988 and there's never yet been a
decent setup for compost. Yet the garden is 0.4 acres and densely
planted, so it generates a lot of organic waste. Leaves I'm just
raked onto the beds to form a mulch, but cut-down perennials and
such have usually been carted off to the municipal garden refuse
composting depot. What a waste of waste!

For a while, I had a compost bin made out of shipping pallets,
one for a floor and four surrounding it, tied together with a
rope. But I never watered it because it was tucked away in an
obscure corner -- out of sight, out of mind.

This spring I *had* to do something: there were at least five
distinct piles of compostable material scattered around the
place, waiting to be dealt with. Too many, made the place look
bad.

Solution: a 10' length of 4' wide hardware cloth (wire mesh),
with a 1" mesh. Stapled lengths of 1'x2" cross-wise, one every
two feet, plus one at each end, like corset stays. Stood the
thing on its edge, formed into a circle, and tied the end stays
together. (Stays on the *outside*)

Thus I have a cylindrical bin, slightly over 3' in diameter, 4'
high. Put it right out in full view next to a paved parking area.
It won't get overlooked *there*, by gum! And the path from front
door to compost is now paved the entire distance. It's not the
most beautiful thing in the world, but I don't think there's any
shame in having a compost bin in full view.

A cylinder this size has a volume of about 1 cubic yard, btw.

Proceeded to transfer all the existing piles into it, layering
them, watering them, and adding lime from time to time. By
evening, it was completely full and I'm not completely finished.
I didn't realize just how much compostable material I had lurking
around.

Current plans call for building a second such bin for the
surplus, with a possible third to hold the fall leaves.


Comments: 4" is almost too tall, even with my 5'11" height. Three
feet would have been more convenient, though I admit that my use
of a long-handled hay fork worked very well for flipping stuff
into the mouth of the new bin. And the new bin may be too tall in
proportion to its diameter. It has a slightly unstable look (but
it didn't collapse overnight), and I suspect it may be prone to
drying out too quickly. OTOH, this is one compost heap that is
very well oxygenated!

I'm going to wrap the thing in a blue tarp. This will keep it
warm and snug and reduce evaporation.

Wish me luck!

PS: Since drafting this message, I've built a second one. It was
the proverbial piece of cake to do.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada