Compost pit in large container?

[Gwen11ian]

Anyone ever try making a compost pit in a large container? I am growing runner beans next year, and keep seeing suggestions of planting them over a bean trench for best results. I garden on a tiny square of cement just outside my front door, and have no room for a compost bin.. and I hate seeing all my veg scraps going off to the council to compost every week when I could be benefiting from them.

The beans will be grown in large plastic bins, drilled bottoms for good drainage. I was thinking of putting a good four or five inches of used multi-purpose compost in the bottom, then a thin layer of easy to compost things like carrot and potato pealing, egg shells, tea bags, etc. I would then pile up another three inches of soil and put in some more scraps a few days later, then fill up the container leaving a few inches at the top to add fresh multi-purpose compost just before planting. Obviously you need friendly worms and bacteria to do the composting, but I know there are worms in my used compost.. and I can only assume the bacteria is probably there as well.

Anyone try this before?

[Two_Sheds]

You're likely to just get a slimy mess, if not enough air can get in.
Daleks, heaps and bins, for instance, all have open bottoms.


Perhaps you can get or make a wormery?

[BrideXIII]

or a bokashi?

[smallblueplanet]

We grew some climbing beans in the bottom third of a 'plastic drum' last year. They were partially succesful.

We planted them a bit late and rushed what was in the planter - it was layers of cardboard and comfrey with a top (about) 4" layer of compost on top. We planted blauhilde and they started okay, but when we had lots of rain we realised we'd not got enough drainage holes in the planter. I took a drill out and put some more in it - the water spurted out, boy did it smell foul - soaking comfrey, the smell makes you vomit! But after that it dried out and drained better and the smell went...

The beans grew okay, but because of the weather and the lateness and then the drowning we didn't get a great harvest! Definately worth trying again though!

[Gwen11ian]

smallblueplanet- Thanks for the information.. I'll make sure that I have plenty of drainage holes.

[Snadger]

A couple of observations. I think the main reason for growing runner beans on top of a trench full of rotted vegetation is because of the amount of water they require rather than the feed they require. If you think about it, runner beans when they are in full leaf, 8 foot tall transpire a heck of a lot of moisture on a warm day and if it isn't available they will wilt.

If I was growing runners in a tub I would drill the drainage holes an inch or two up the sides to try and hold on to any moisture in the bottom of the tub. I would also mix scrumpled up cardboard and newspaper in the bottom along with 'swellgel' granules before adding FYM followed by compost to try and stop the whole lot drying out on a sunny day!

Good luck with your efforts, whichever method you choose I hope it's successful for you!

[Gwen11ian]

I have an Earth Box (courtesy of a GYO competition a few months ago, thank you!) that I will be using indoors for some tomatoes in a large bay window.. I wonder if it might be possible to create an adaptation of the bottom part using the plastic bin for the outdoor beans? The Earth Box has a resevore in the bottom with two areas where the soil goes down into the water, the rest is held above with a screen. I haven't used it before, but in theory the plants draw up what they need as they need it. It's quite an enclosed system, but with my beans I plan to grow lettuces around the bottom and allow the rain to help with the watering.
Explanding on Snadgers suggestion, drill the holes two inches up from the bottom. Place two plastic pots in the bottom, then fill the area around them with gravel up to an inch above the holes on the side. Put down a layer of newspaper over the gravel leaving the tops of the pots open. Fill up pots with compost , then the rest of the plastic bin (with a few handfuls of carrot peelings and some tea bags for good measure). The theory is that the pots of compost will wick up water from the gravel reservoir, and the roots won't rot because they're not sitting in the water. Excess water can easily drain out, and since the bins are tinted clear plastic I can see the water level in the reservoir!
Mmm.. I'm excited to get going. Forget Christmas, when is it Spring?!

[gojiberry]

The art of composting is to get the mix right. If you have a lot of kitchen waste that is likely to turn to mush you balance it off with either twiggy stuff from the garden or shredded paper or a mix of both. Just be aware that your potato and carrot peelings may start growing if you give them ideal conditions.


Ian

[Storming Norman]

Hi Gwen,

I did something like this in July last year for my second sowing of beans and I was surprised how successful it was. Most beans need heaps of water so using pots at all was a risk.
I had a couple of knee high pots - roughly taped over the drainage holes with electric insulating tape [yes honestly - I do this for my potato pots as well, the water still leaks out but it takes a long time so any watering works as opposed to just flooding straight out of dry soil].
Over half the soil in the pot was half decomposed compost from my heap topped up with garden soil mixed with left over municipal compost, which I had bought in to make a raised bed.
There were five runner beans in one pot and five climbing french blauhilde beans in the other. I got crops starting in September and the last picking was 31st October. It seemed to work and I am going to try it again this year. The main learning point for me was that I got a better bean to leaf ratio in the pot, and could see the beans to pick easily. In the ground they are wild growers - so much leaf and the hidden beans can stop production if not picked.
However they need watering at least twice a week - if you plan to take a holiday the planting needs to factor that in, and they must be pick regularly or they go over. One pot fed two people once/twice a week for around eight weeks. The french beans cropped better - this is a fantastic variety that I always grow.
If you are going to do this start your compost in your pot now, keep it covered and sprinkled with some soil pinched from a neighbour, and only use when it has partially broken down - it won't be early but that will be fine. Make sure you mix it up properly with soil before planting to prevent slimy smelliness.
Oh and use a LARGE pot - that is really important - and 7 foot canes.
The experiment continues - now 6 pots - 3 with feltham first peas 3 with aquadaluce broad beans popping up at the edges of them. In the middle of the pots mild mustard leaf or oriental veg growing - mustard is being picked already. The 4 extra pots took the rest of the compost heap in September.