His website mostly promotes his products rather than discussing any of his essential concepts that are in his book. (www.squarefootgardening.com) Plus, they sell “kits” but it’s much cheaper to make the garden boxes yourself (you can buy wood and ask them to cut it for you at the hardware store).

I used his composting idea in my yard and it works well. However, our back yard is fenced in (as is typical for homes in Texas) so our neighbors don’t actually see it. I planted some lovely tall grass in a few bunches in front of it to block the view from the house… so it’s not an eye-sore to anyone.

Here’s the concept: make a circle shaped fence out of strong chicken wire. You can use zip-ties to attach the two ends together to make a circle, and leaving the top and bottom ends open. The circle size is important: a 5-foot diameter is too wide, and anything less than a 3-foot diameter is too narrow. Something in-between is just perfect enough to keep some moisture in, but still allows enough airflow. Pile ingredients into the compost (green then brown as discussed in other posts). Then, when you are ready to “stir” it, pick up the chicken wire fence around the pile, and move it to another spot (the ‘dirt’ stays put where it is). Then, shovel the compost into the “bin” in it’s new spot. It is a bit of work, but is good exercise. It gets its own worms naturally, and the only thing you pay for is the chicken wire fence!

More than his compost idea (which I can understand if people don’t like it so much, but it’s CHEAP), I really really really like the square foot gardening concept, which is efficient, space-saving, and a lot of fun. The book is worth checking out.

someone asked about getting the worms out when it’s time.. this is my plan..
i made the worm bin out of a rubbermaid container and have another waiting for the compost to be ready (about 3 months) it has holes in the bottom, you set it in the current bin and start putting the food in it, the worms will work their way up (1 or 2 months) then that is their new home and after you use the “black gold” you repeat the cycle with that empty bin.

love your blog!

for my bin – its down in the laundry room where I can feed my worms the dryer lint. We were given this bin as a sample at a hardware show – it is by far the best indoor bin I’ve ever seen or used! We sell them at our Ace Hardware stores – check your local store, it may be less expensive there than it is online.

The worms in this system slowly move from the lowest tray into the upper trays – so you won’t lose as many worms when you put the compost outside!

I don’t know anything about that myself, I just spouted off on the stuff I did know. LOL

The best information to remember for those who are hot composting is to have a proper balance of greens (not necessarily green, these are items with a high water and nitrogen content) and browns (these are items with low moisture/high carbon). Greens include things like grass clippings, pulled (non-invasive) weeds, and vegetable and fruit scraps and peelings. Browns include things like fallen leaves and paper. You want to be at about 30% greens and 70% browns, and the pile should be just about as moist as a wrung-out sponge. This method creates finished compost faster than any other.