Those Dirty Rats

Over the years I have naturally made some improvements in the infrastructure of my community garden, even though the plot is really only rented from year to year. A few seasons ago I invested in a cedar compost bin, the modular type that can be assembled and reassembled to turn and use the compost. A year or so later, I added a wire mesh companion to hold the clippings, vines, and spent vegetable and flower plants at the end of the season. My compost was always slow to cook, mostly because I didn't have any table scraps or other moisture-rich organics, but I figured I had plenty of time to allow the plants from my garden to decompose so that their nutrients might be returned to the soil. 

Unfortunately, time ran out for me and my open composting system last fall, when in response to a rat problem, bins such as mine were disallowed. To say I was dismayed would be an understatement. I have never seen any rats in my garden, and as I reported above, I don't usually put anything in my compost that they might find attractive. Completely banning extant composters seemed like an over-reaction, and although I said as much to the steering committee, my perspective was overruled at the annual meeting.

The deadline to remove them was set to May 1, of this season, and I stewed a bit about it all winter. But as the warm days of spring have brought us ever-closer to that date and the threat of an unsatisfactory rating which could lead to loss of the garden plot, I have resigned myself to disassembling the bins, bagging their contents, and moving forward. 

Fortunately, I had my nephew Treat to help me earlier this week and yesterday. As we pitchforked and raked the rich compost at the bottom of the first bin, he suggested leaving it in place and planting something there. I looked at the pile of three foot cedar boards and the grooved corner pieces behind us, and it occured to me that we could reassemble them into a raised bed. Likewise, the sides of the wire bin could be repurposed as squash trellises. 

So yesterday, we pulled out the trusty bow saw that I purchased for 5 bucks at a thrift shop in Dewey Beach a couple of Thanksgivings ago, and sawed the corner posts in half. Then Treat dug some post holes, and we pounded six of them in where the bins were. Instead of using the spacer pegs, we fitted the slats flush, and built ourselves a 3x6x1 raised bed in no time. It was very satisfying, and it almost-- almost! took the sting out of having to remove my composters at all. 

It sure is going to hurt to have to throw all that organic matter away, though.