HOW TO | build mini beds in milk cartons

MATERIALS | 

empty milk or juice cartons, knife, soil, small rocks

{ via ZEITonline }

{ NORMADISCH GRÜN 2012:117 }

BUILD |

1. Collect empty milk or juice cartons and rinse them well immediately to prevent them to go moldy.

2a. Put the cartons across, cut two quadrangles of the topside of the carton, pierce the bottom to let the water drain.

2b. Put the cartons upright, cut off the upside, pierce the bottom to let the water drain.

3. Layer bottom with some small rocks. Fill up with soil, put in seeds/seedlings and finish with another layer of soil. Water.

Cartons will last for 1-2 years until they start to rot.::

HOW TO | build mobile composting beds

{ NORMADISCH GRÜN 2012:115 }

MATERIALS | 
2 bread crates, cardboard, big scissors, light cuttings, mature compost, semi-mature compost, topsoil


BUILD |
Lower crate
1. Enforce crate walls with cardboard to prevent dehydration.
2. Fill up lower crate with twigs and branches from deciduous trees (wood from conifers is to acidic!!), continue with a layer semi-mature compost. This should create a tiny mound in the end.


Upper crate
3. Fill up with mature compost and finish with a layer of a few inches of topsoil.
The bed is made up of two crate systems - an upper crate filled with almost mature soil and a lower one containing compost in the stage to rot. Pile up both crates so that the soil from both crates is connected and the worms are able to move from one crat to another.


WATERING |
Requires large amounts of water and plenty of times as the wholes in the crate’s walls allow the water to evaporate quickly. Plant nasturtium along the bed’s edges to prevent massive evaporation.


COMPOST REFILL |
Refill the compost in the lower crate every other month to ensure exchange between the mature and semi-mature soils. This replaces any fertilizing.

{ via gartendeck blog }