When we got the bright idea last year to plant some vegetables, we jumped in with both feet, because, you know, that’s how we like to do things. ALL in, baby. We bought seeds and lattices, we tilled up a patch of our back yard, we watered, we weeded. I researched organic gardening methods; hubby scoffed at everything organic.

We rejoiced when tiny little green leaves poked their little heads out of the dirt, and got real attached to our little green babies, and before long we had cucumbers and jalapenos galore.

We decided we needed a compost bin. But the fancy store-bought ones that spin and rotate and whatnot are expensive. We opted not to do that. Because another way we like to do things is that we like to start a project and not finish it, and who’s to say this gardening thing wouldn’t get really old in a day or two, and then we’d have this gigantic $90 compost thing that was of no use to us anymore?

The garden didn’t get old — we LOVED it — but our homemade compost bin made of a recycled Rubbermaid tub works perfectly for what we need. 

Here she is…

 

Wanna see what’s inside it?

And it doesn’t stink! Surprisingly enough. We leave this bin outside our kitchen door and toss egg shells, vegetable peelings, moldy grapes and onion skin and apple cores inside. I’ve never ONCE walked outside and smelled anything foul, because believe me, she’d be long gone if there was any sort of stench at our back door. We dig around in there every few days to toss everything around, and rotate the stuff on top to the bottom and vice versa.

It’s incredibly amazing to me how FAST the stuff in this bin breaks down. Egg shells will literally be gone in days. GONE!

And under all those kitchen scraps and leaves, rich, black dirt… just in time to start get our 2013 garden off to a healthy start. Home Depot, here we come…..