An amazing find, and a project completed

With my boxes complete, veggies planted, and summer quickly approaching, there's not much for this beginning gardener to DO right now, except wait for everything to come up and take pictures. I am planning on making more boxes in the future, and to curb costs (and give myself something to do), I decided to make my own compost bin.

When my husband and I bought our house 4 years ago, we had a 4 year old, a 2 month old baby, a wily kitten and we were both working full time. We did the young couple thing and got a Golden Retriever puppy too. I had no time or desire to garden at that time, which was okay. The yard was decent looking, we had bought the house from an older couple. The Japanese lady who lived there had a compost pit, dug into the ground, which I had my husband cover up because of the kids and animals. I finally had my own yard, I figured I could get to it any time.

And then I got sick. And sick again. Spring is a bad time for my Crohn's! Last year, I had multiple hospital stays between February and April. I went under anesthesia 5 times, twice in one day and had two surgeries for my kidneys. I was in no shape to garden! And by this time, my yard was a mess. The ornamental shrubs our previous owner planted are havens for mosquitoes, and I have only the hardiest variety of dollar weeds in my garden!

It's a long story, I know, but I'm desperate for a way to justify what a job I have ahead of me with the yard. I built a compost bin, but I wasn't satisfied with my construction and I want finished compost faster than mother nature thinks is reasonable. I decided to make a rolling compost bin out of a plastic trash can, I found instructions online that seemed very simple and basic. And bonus! I already had a trash can in the backyard by the shed, left by previous owners. It had some trash bags in it, and my husband started throwing yard trash on top whenever he cut the grass weeds. I wasn't excited about cleaning it out, but free's free.

I cleaned debris out of can (more on that later), and rinsed it out. Turned it upside down in the sun for a couple of hours to dry, and get the plastic to heat up a little.

Then I drilled holes along the sides and bottom for air flow.

I transferred all of my working compost into the can, locked the lid on with bungee cords (I may have to put something more secure when it fills up more), and gave it a few rolls around the yard. Awesome!

And the garbage bag that was in the can?? It was so heavy. I was grossed out, it had been sitting in my yard for 4 years....what on earth would I find?

4 year old compost!