I am very excited to share this incredibly effective composting method for small spaces! After running this experiment over a few months I can safely say that the concept works very well and I feel it could offer a huge amount of cost-saving for growers with limited gardening area. The best thing about this method is that it is free, and doesn’t sacrifice any growing space to place a compost bin for example. Enjoy!
The initial concept video: https://youtu.be/7vAwurGpl-M
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37 Comments
Thanks so much for conducting this experiment, Huw. I have a compost tumbler for kitchen waste but did not want to sacrifice garden space for a compost pile. This looks fantastic and I am starting to use this method now. Thanks again.
You're a freaking genius and just tipped me over the edge of figuring this out for myself. I just moved somewhere with nowhere great for a compost area. I'm doing some Hugelkulture and burying it along with kelp I drag off the beach and whatever else I can find. I'm renting so I don't think I can transform the lawn but around the edges I can grow. Along the driveway too but it's a lot of shade so I'm stuck with perennials. Focusing on medicinals and pruning the trees and bushes as much as I think I can get away with. I don't think I can put pathways thru the lawn but I can around it where there's some beds. I got a chip drop but they gave me a cedar. Can I use cedar on the bottom of the compost path? U can't huh? I'm gonna use the cedar elsewhere and get another chip drop
What a brilliant idea Huw! I mulch my paths with just wood chips but have been experimenting with using them as mulch once they are partially broken down. It only works for some crops though and not for beds where I want to sow directly
Great idea! I must say it takes ages for my compost to actually break down so I use a combination action of homemade compost and bought compost because otherwise I just wouldn't have enough. But I have a spot I've earmarked for dumping stuff on and seeing how it goes! I might even pop a pumpkin seed in…
This is very helpful. Thank you, Hew!
My husband and I noticed our paths we’re looking like rich soil due to laying mulch and simply dropping soil and compost out of the sides of our wheelbarrow as we wheeled it back and forth. We started being more intentional a couple of years ago and it is great! We have compost set up in a couple of areas on the property but we might as well use as much area as possible.
Excellent!
That's brilliant Huw.
Brilliant! I'm starting one ASAP!
Great video and idea Huw a great amount of compost from that space
Great idea, I’m going to start tomorrow!
What a great idea 🙂
My compost bins are in a narrow shady space next to the driveway in which I can grow very little else. It would be nice to have them right in the garden, but it does make it very easy when I bring in a load of city green waste compost or horse manure. My husband was concerned they would smell and the neighbors would complain, but as gardeners know, if it's done right it smells good!
🌈💚🍀
I really love this idea. In my small garden, I have a fir tree which overhangs a portion of the area. This year, I have just raked all of the fir needles into the areas where I had planned to add bought-in wood chip for paths. Of course, the rankings include a lot leaves and other bits, too. I'm hoping that walking on these paths will break down the needles much faster, since they take absolutely forever to break down in my small compost pile. Meanwhile, I have free paths! Thanks, Huw!
❤️🔥
What a great concept! I would never have thought of this, thank you!
Ingenious!
My temporary pathways are made from thin prunings and twiggy leafy stuff, it keeps feeding the plants growing next to them, and less need to have to burn any prunings… Actually this year I decided not to burn, and have dug out trenches to redo some paths with larger prunings and woodchip over the top,, they feel nice and springy to walk on😊
our allotment council would have an aneurysm hehe but I like it. I'm thinking to do an inground wormery, saw a few youtube videos about it, seems handy, just the odd bucket in the middle of beds
I noticed on your overhead drone shot that your raised beds don't all line up in straight lines. I love this. I have six raised beds so far and mine came out a little wonky. The ideas of a bit of a mess in the garden appeal to me greatly. When some weed pops up in the yard, if I like it, I put water on it. If I don't, it goes to the compost bin. I have had very poor luck with my compost for the last couple of years and have changed things around this year. I am also going to start tossing a good deal of it in my pathways. Planting in Spokane Washington is still two or three weeks away but my prep is already started. Thank you so much for the videos.
Oh, Huw, I have just the perfect area for your idea, behind my big pots of greens. I will remove the artificial turf path and cover it with carboard and start composting there. Thank you.
Wow this looks too good to be true Mr. Huw! 😲🤗
I would have to put barriers on the ends because my lovely chickens would spread it all over the yard
That's an original idea we'll done m8. Seriously genius stuff.
I have two big compost bins, once a year i empty the one and turn the other. I also have 5 big pots (one is always empty) that i compost in over the winter. I turn them once a week which takes me 20mins and love seeing how many worms are in there. I then use these pots to grow beans and pumpkins up my wall.
Might give the pathways a go once i have built some veggie beds.
What a brilliant concept and so thrilled you have done this follow-up video to show it works. I am making a garden in a spot away from the house and down a hill. Doing this will mean I won't have to cart weeds and rubbish to the bin near the house. Plus if looks like a great way to keep the weeds down between the beds. So a win-win!
Really love this idea, thank you!
I was not intended to make compost but I noticed the soil between beds became so rich after several years of stashing
leaves, stems and straw. Some are self-seeded like lettuce and cilantro. Thank you, Huw
We have used kitchen scraps and grass clippings covered with wood chips for pathways in the garden. Between the biological breakdown and the mechanical (walking on them), we end up with plenty of partially broken-down compost that we use to cover the beds at the end of the growing season.
HI again Huw. After your first vlog about this I was so excited with the idea that I started one in my first allotment last year. The ground in this allotment was SO worm deficient when I started the garden January 2022 and although it got a bit better over the year it stayed behind .BUT the soil out of the compost pad was just LOADED with worms after 3-4 weeks! SO cool. I dug all the healthy ground up and took it to my new BIGGER allotment! I recommend this method to ANYONE. It's pretty much a no brainer as long as you do the lasagne thing and not too thick. Thx for introducing the method!👍👍
Fantastic idea, the only issue I can think of would be with seeds from either weeds or composted veg but like all brilliant ideas this is so simple.
Genius 🎯
I read and used Ruth Stotts system when in California 50 years ago where i first gardened for veg seriously. Flat composting worked fine but needed a lot of watering. 30 years later back in South Wales with an allotment I'd had for 20 years I broke an arm and was unable to do any serious composting turning etc. That's when I becan to use no dig throughout. Walking to the allotment I would pick up large flat sheets of cardboard from peoples big purchases and also their grass cuttings put out for recycling. The nettles that had grown on site i could slash with a hook one handed and I built lasanya compost over 1/3 of the plot which I couldn't manage. It might have just been perfect weather for such a system that year and I doubt it would work so well now I'm back in the rain forest north of Huw but next year the compost just needed rakeing forward over the allotment and results were excellent and admired by the exminers who had the other plots
What a great idea!
Love this Huw. Very smart indeed and am astonished how much compost you got from it – nice work!
Brilliant! Thanks Huw.