I found these really long metal rails in my basement a long time ago. They were left by the former owners and I'm so glad I didn't throw them away. I put them in my car and headed to my local hardware store to ask them to cut them in half for me. All I had to buy was chicken wire. Can I just say right off the bat that I HATE CHICKEN WIRE! I have never worked with this stuff before but what a pain in the ass!
Then I just followed Marc's directions. Put metal rails on the corners of the beds.
And wrap them with chicken wire. This was the worst part. Trying to straighten this stuff out enough to work with it was virtually impossible. But, it's done! It probably took about an hour total.
Then I proceeded to throw crap into them. I had planned to fill them equally but after seeing how much space there was I started thinking it would be better to fill one completely first, then the other. Even if one remains empty, it will be nice to be able to turn the full one into the empty one a few times before spring.
Here's one temporary bin that I started filling. I threw all my old tomato, pepper and broccoli plants in first, then the dead Zinnias. It was much higher than in this picture but I could tell that it wasn't packed enough and it just didn't seem right. Since the sod transplant didn't really work I decided to pull it up from the kitchen garden and throw it upside down in the bin. This worked great because it smashed the stuff down and also covered the tomatoes and broccoli which I was concerned might attract animals. Now I've got a place for all the leaves in the front yard, too. I'll be outside at dawn, hopefully before my neighbors wake, to steal their leaves for my new temporary compost bins.
Here's the site of my first kitchen garden after it's been cleaned. Before May 21st it had grass just like the area around it. The black weed barrier I used killed all the grass as expected. Now it's just dirt. I bought grass seed to plant in this spot but I guess I've waited too late. Now I just need to keep this spot clear until spring until I can try to grow some grass.
Then I just followed Marc's directions. Put metal rails on the corners of the beds.And wrap them with chicken wire. This was the worst part. Trying to straighten this stuff out enough to work with it was virtually impossible. But, it's done! It probably took about an hour total.
Then I proceeded to throw crap into them. I had planned to fill them equally but after seeing how much space there was I started thinking it would be better to fill one completely first, then the other. Even if one remains empty, it will be nice to be able to turn the full one into the empty one a few times before spring.Here's one temporary bin that I started filling. I threw all my old tomato, pepper and broccoli plants in first, then the dead Zinnias. It was much higher than in this picture but I could tell that it wasn't packed enough and it just didn't seem right. Since the sod transplant didn't really work I decided to pull it up from the kitchen garden and throw it upside down in the bin. This worked great because it smashed the stuff down and also covered the tomatoes and broccoli which I was concerned might attract animals. Now I've got a place for all the leaves in the front yard, too. I'll be outside at dawn, hopefully before my neighbors wake, to steal their leaves for my new temporary compost bins.Here's the site of my first kitchen garden after it's been cleaned. Before May 21st it had grass just like the area around it. The black weed barrier I used killed all the grass as expected. Now it's just dirt. I bought grass seed to plant in this spot but I guess I've waited too late. Now I just need to keep this spot clear until spring until I can try to grow some grass.
