First garden project
Our first garden project was building a compost bin, since we’re I’m too cheap to buy one (there are some pickle barrel ones locally that look nice, but are pricey), but too finicky to just want to have a pile of compost sitting out in the back yard.
The materials:
- 2 rolls of hardware cloth, half inch, 2 feet by 5 feet, enameled: 9.98 each
- 3 foot u-posts, 4 of them: 2.25 each
Total cost? $28.96.
Construction was pretty straightforward. We measured out a square on the ground and pounded the u-posts in, then started wrapping the hardware cloth around them, just a little off the ground. The u-posts had hooks that we were able to use to affix the hardware cloth (we might go back with zip ties later; we’re just going to have to keep an eye on it). At the end of the first roll, the squares of “cloth” had been left open, so we were able to bend them around to join it to the beginning of the next roll.
The whole thing took maybe 45 minutes, and the compost is out of the kitchen. I’m pleased. (And it turns out that I’m a wimp, and it’s harder to hammer u-posts into the ground than I would have thought.)
(The snow we had this past weekend is mostly gone. There’s still patches here and there.)
