Small space composting

Small space composting made easy

Compost is such an interesting part of the gardening process.  It is one of the parts that I was not looking forward to having to worry about all the time.

A compost bin means decomposing food, worms, other insects and pests, and the possibilities of rodents and other animals in the bin.  In order to avoid the rodents and other animals getting into the composting materials, it is best to keep the materials contained in a closed container.

Since we now have a limited amount of small space in our yard, we chose to buy a Yimby Tumbler Composter which is a compost tumbler that has two openings within the one container.  It has two “sides” for compost.  It has helped us be able to continue composting even though we do not have a large compost bin made from pallets.

Our previous garden set-up

I had planned on sharing pictures in this post of our compost bin from our previous house to show how it was positioned in our yard.  The compost bin was made from wooden pallets.  Its location was in the far corner of the backyard when we bought the home.   (I am unable to find those photos.  If and when I find them, I will post here.)

We used that compost bin – and used it well – for five years.  It was turned over by multiple people over the years.  (We have a couple of friends that loved shoveling…so we were happy to accept their help with the flipping of the compost.)

How we use compost in our garden beds

The compost from that bin helped fill our 20 garden beds.  We used then (and still use) a mix of one-third compost, one-third peat moss, and one-third vermiculite.  We began using this specific ratio after I read Mel Bartholemew’s book, Square Foot Gardening.  (Once you use Mel’s Mix for the first time of adding to your garden bed, when adding more soil to your beds, more vermiculite is not needed.)

D.I.Y. Compost bin from wooden pallets

In order to learn how to make your own compost bin, I am happy to refer you to a fellow blogger and friend of mine, Dianna, who recently shared on her blog about how to make your own compost bin using pallets.  I am glad she shared pictures so that you can see how she did it.

Please share your small space composting experiences with us!

I would love to see pictures of you used small space composting to your advantage.  Please share below.

~Adrienne

Note:  This was originally posted on my writing site at Adrienne Z. Milligan.  This post now has its home here on Gluten Free Preppers.