This week I had to get rid of a futon that Sir Obie1Kanobie Kitty decided was his litter box and since I couldn't clean it up enough, I thought, how could I recycle this thing somehow and have one less item for the landfill. Well if it's cotton, it should break down pretty well so perhaps I can make a garden bed out of it? So with some ideas in mind I went for it.
First step: I picked a nice warm South facing area in my yard and placed directly on ground.
Second Step: I cut open slits where all the ties are and made sure it was full of cotton and not another synthetic mix of materials.
Third Step: I took some nice clean potting soil, I had been giving by from my neighbors when they were moving out and put about a 2 inch layer cover the entire surface.
Step 4: I took an entire broken down worm bin that I had saved for several seasons and shoveled an entire layer of composted broken down dirt/worm castings on top of the potting soil layer.
Step 5: When mowing my lawn I always save the grass clippings and make giant mounds near my compost pile and cover it with cardboard. It creates great mulch and mostly micorrhizae grows in it fast. I had a big ole pile of leaves and composted grass clippings so I then added a layer on top of the compost layer.
Step 6: Once I had an even layer of grass clippings/dry mulch then I put a bucket of fresh compost on top to start activating the break down process.
Step 7: The weather is changing here fast with super cold nights, so I thought I better add another layer of potting soil, so I had just enough to add about an inch more of potting soil on top of the garden sandwich.
Step 8: Next I took some slightly broken down straw I had from my cannabis plants and placed a thick final layer to keep the heat and moisture in.
Step 9: For the final step, I found a piece of old greenhouse plastic and covered and tucked in my big old compost sandwich. I will continue to add fresh compost to this, and see if I can get it to heat up and breakdown over winter. I intend to build a box frame around it with some recycled 2 x 6 cedar boards I scored from a free pile up the street.
As I have never done this before it will be a great experiment to see if it will make a good garden bed or even a working compost pile.
My Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/kimmysomelove42/
My new YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCygEZQvRTSYqjZW9RgKbCOw?view_as=subscriber
Find more Steemians?
https://old.steemfollower.com/?r=16189
https://steemengine.net/join?r=3935
Or better yet, get paid to search the web, this site is fast and amazing!