Composting!

I've been reading books. Dangerous books. Books that teach you dangerous things and make you dissatisfied with your current way of life. Books that make you dream of strange things like milking cows and churning butter. Books about self-sustained living. The problem is, most of these books are written for people who already have a large garden or property, and a lot of time to work on it. I don't. When I chose to landscape my backyard, I tried to be as friendly to the desert as I could, while still making areas that allowed me to plant what I enjoy gardening. This means I don't have grass, and I have 2 main planters where I grow flowers and herbs. I have some trees to provide shade. The rest of the yard is landscaped with small pebbled river rocks. They are smooth enough to walk barefoot on.

I like my garden. But I dream about a small country cottage garden, filled with overgrowing herbs and carefully tended vegetables, and fruit trees blowing in the breeze. But I have to make the most of what I have, and what I have time for. I figured one small way I can make a difference is by starting a compost pile. I looked online at Lowe's and Home Depot, and my stomach dropped at the price. I really wanted one, and I couldn't see spending that amount of money... the return on my investment would just take too long.

And then I remembered that I had just received our new trash bins from the city. Which means that the ones I had purchased were just being used for extra storage of pots and buckets and garden tools. I did some research, and yes, you CAN use a garbage bin. I got out the drill, drilled some small holes all around it to let air circulate, but not so large that bugs and pests can get in, and voila! I had a compost bin. I took the wheels off and placed the bin in a plastic storage container. This is because all the water and liquid that drains out of your compost bin becomes liquid fertilizer and is really really good for your plants. You can also pour it back into the bin to keep the moisture levels high enough to promote decomposition.

Here's the first bit of compost material. It's mostly greens, but I hope to get some newspaper shredded this week to add into the bin as well. I added some garden soil, because the microorganisms are supposed to be good for breaking down organic material. Most of this is trimmings from the herb garden. Hopefully I can get enough material in here over the winter so that I have a nice bin of compost in the spring. :)