Dog Compost

     I was using StumbleUpon one day and came across a website that was talking about how to make your own dog compost. So I decided that would be our weekend project (and yes this was like a Thurs or Fri). So that evening we made a trip to the home improvement store to buy the materials: large trash can with lid and septic tank starter.  We wanted to put it in the front corner away from our house so we pulled up a straight row of bricks to get there and the bricks that were in that area leaving the rest for later (yes they are still there). From there Neill and I took turns digging a 2~2.5 feet wide, 3 feet deep (big enough for the trash can). We didn’t really think about the large tree on the property line just on the other side of the fence, so we had to adjust the location of the hole a little to work around some really big roots. We used our tree trimmer to cut some of the smaller roots. Once the hole was done, we cut off the bottom of the trash can (so the compost can drain properly), and because of the tree roots we had to cut some funky shapes for the trash can to fit around the roots. We also drilled holes in the side of the trash can for more drainage. Once we put the trash can in the hole, we added some sand at the bottom and started to fill in some around the sides. I wish we would have put some gravel and a few bigger rocks at the bottom because the sides started buckling in, so I had to stop filling in the sides.  It doesn’t look great but it seems to be working good enough.  One note in case you plan on doing this: don’t use the compost on anything you plan to eat or up stream of anything you plan to eat.  I haven’t used the compost yet. I have thought about putting it in my front flower garden, but I’m not sure if I will. Oh and the septic tank stuff gets added every time we put waste in it to help break it down. Make sure to add water to get them started.  You can add other compostable material if you don’t have a regular compost yet (like us). Ah now we can start to enjoy our backyard, if only there were grass or something other than leaves and dirt.Well, that’s just another project on our list.