The Easiest Compost Method for Small Spaces! 

HI again Huw. After your first vlog about this I was so excited with the idea that I started one in my first allotment last year. The ground in this allotment was SO worm deficient when I started the garden January 2022 and although it got a bit better over the year it stayed behind .BUT the soil out of the compost pad was just LOADED with worms after 3-4 weeks! SO cool. I dug all the healthy ground up and took it to my new BIGGER allotment! I recommend this method to ANYONE. It's pretty much a no brainer as long as you do the lasagne thing and not too thick. Thx for introducing the method!👍👍

What I like about this approach is how it makes the compost available right where you need it, instead of having to load to a wheel barrow, carrying it and unloading it. Saves time and energy. Thanks for sharing. I imagine it would also inhibit weeds in this area.

We love a compost video 👏 -G&R,x

I bought 2 of your books. Not for myself, because I've been gardening since I was a little kid, but for my sons, who are your age. The books are great for anyone starting their adventure with growing vegetables. I read with pleasure. It will be a really valuable gift. I don't even regret that I had to import them from the UK to the EU, because it was worth it.

Another thing about compost pathways is that it makes for easier hand weeding. One just pulls weeds and drops them in the pathway. 😊

Huw, I love your channel. Everything you explain is so down to earth and intelligent. Works in Germany too❤😊 Gardeners unite, no matter where your gardens are situated! We are brothers and sisters..... 👭

I have a Victory Garden, or would you would call an Allotment, and this is one of the most creative garden ideas I've come across over the past few years. Thank you.

My husband and I noticed our paths we’re looking like rich soil due to laying mulch and simply dropping soil and compost out of the sides of our wheelbarrow as we wheeled it back and forth. We started being more intentional a couple of years ago and it is great! We have compost set up in a couple of areas on the property but we might as well use as much area as possible.

You and I were in the same issue of Permaculture Magazine (#90), as I was beginning my descent from strength and activity. I read your article with interest and concluded the future was in very good hands. 🏆 Yes, we always did this but never bothered with raising the beds very high. They had no borders to speak of, and every spring we raked the pathways onto the beds and laid down new pathways, and that was our compost, mulch and raised beds all of a piece.

It’s a fab idea so long as you don’t own dogs that to eat what you put down… I thought about doing this when you first started , I have a bin and a compost roller bag too, new, But when I started putting the green stuff down my young dogs, under 2 years old, started to nick stuff and eat it. Which one gave em upset tums as not used to it and 2 ment that the stuff I was trying to compost wasn’t there…. We now have woodchip paths for now. As that will break down too.

I was not intended to make compost but I noticed the soil between beds became so rich after several years of stashing leaves, stems and straw. Some are self-seeded like lettuce and cilantro. Thank you, Huw

Brilliant idea, thank you! I’ve been a gardener in Worcestershire for over 26 years and gardened in Cheshire and Oxfordshire before that. Now we have moved to the north side of a hill on an Orkney island, we have significantly different growing conditions, and so much more space! There is already a greenhouse and polytunnel and a large wooden bin full of wonderful compost, but the previous owners had grassed over several veg beds. So we are starting our very first no dig beds with the compost (mostly over six years old 😊) and some of the many cardboard removal boxes we still have! Loving the idea of the compost paths, which I can see us implementing this year. We were going to mulch the paths with shredded prunings of the numerous fuchsia, hebe and escallonia hedges, so now we will be also adding green prunings and weddings once they appear. I have recently bought your Beg growers handbook and am working through it, such fantastic tips and ideas, proving that every day is a school day! 😊 Thank you for such an informative channel, keep it up! 💕

I've been harvesting the mulch/compost out of my pathways already and I'm amazed at how much I've been able to get. It will easily meet most, if not all, of my mulching/composting needs this year. Digging out the paths also helps provide drainage for the beds, and retain moisture to give back to the beds. Win-win.

My temporary pathways are made from thin prunings and twiggy leafy stuff, it keeps feeding the plants growing next to them, and less need to have to burn any prunings... Actually this year I decided not to burn, and have dug out trenches to redo some paths with larger prunings and woodchip over the top,, they feel nice and springy to walk on😊

The daffoldils in the background are beautiful! We don't have them in Sweden yet so it a treat to see them.

The Linda Woodrow method from The Permaculture Home Garden. Great use of space. I've used it between chicken tractors too.

Thank you so much for this information. I have a 22x12 garden & was sure there was no room for a compost bin. Now I will make a compost path!

What a brilliant concept and so thrilled you have done this follow-up video to show it works. I am making a garden in a spot away from the house and down a hill. Doing this will mean I won't have to cart weeds and rubbish to the bin near the house. Plus if looks like a great way to keep the weeds down between the beds. So a win-win!

Thanks so much for conducting this experiment, Huw. I have a compost tumbler for kitchen waste but did not want to sacrifice garden space for a compost pile. This looks fantastic and I am starting to use this method now. Thanks again.

Thanks. You’ve probably saved me a good few quid in the future. Appreciate your knowledge sharing. Shout out for your good-yourself, Charles dowding and the Venus project. May the world be a better place

I tell people to use these small space to breakdown/pre compost material for use later as mulch, bin fill, or to add into a small pile to compost over winter. I’ve spent the last 4 years piling along a fence, building usable growing space about 10 ft a year with homemade, passive composting (over 40 ft now being used this year)

I really love this idea. In my small garden, I have a fir tree which overhangs a portion of the area. This year, I have just raked all of the fir needles into the areas where I had planned to add bought-in wood chip for paths. Of course, the rankings include a lot leaves and other bits, too. I'm hoping that walking on these paths will break down the needles much faster, since they take absolutely forever to break down in my small compost pile. Meanwhile, I have free paths! Thanks, Huw!

Brilliant idea and incredibly easy to put in place. I have an area of my garden with leaves and green material that I have been walking and rolling the wheelbarrow over for a few months simply because it’s in my way. It’s breaking down beautifully. If I had thought of your idea and turned it a few times, I’m convinced it would be useable compost by now. Lesson learned for next time!

I read and used Ruth Stotts system when in California 50 years ago where i first gardened for veg seriously. Flat composting worked fine but needed a lot of watering. 30 years later back in South Wales with an allotment I'd had for 20 years I broke an arm and was unable to do any serious composting turning etc. That's when I becan to use no dig throughout. Walking to the allotment I would pick up large flat sheets of cardboard from peoples big purchases and also their grass cuttings put out for recycling. The nettles that had grown on site i could slash with a hook one handed and I built lasanya compost over 1/3 of the plot which I couldn't manage. It might have just been perfect weather for such a system that year and I doubt it would work so well now I'm back in the rain forest north of Huw but next year the compost just needed rakeing forward over the allotment and results were excellent and admired by the exminers who had the other plots

I love this!! I’m going to be doing this and my small compost bins. Brilliant Huy!!!❤️

This is a real "Why didn't I think of that?" moment for me. We have a local source for free ramial woodchips and we keep rabbits, so there's no shortage of "brown" and "green" material for this project. I will definitely be doing a couple pathways in this manner this year! Thank you for the video. 🙂

I LOVED this! As someone who’s garden is very small this will be VERY useful. Thank you

I noticed on your overhead drone shot that your raised beds don't all line up in straight lines. I love this. I have six raised beds so far and mine came out a little wonky. The ideas of a bit of a mess in the garden appeal to me greatly. When some weed pops up in the yard, if I like it, I put water on it. If I don't, it goes to the compost bin. I have had very poor luck with my compost for the last couple of years and have changed things around this year. I am also going to start tossing a good deal of it in my pathways. Planting in Spokane Washington is still two or three weeks away but my prep is already started. Thank you so much for the videos.

I've been making compost pathways for 2 years now... now my new double plot is one massive compost. I have marked areas for beds and netting, using logs for the walls. I'll keep piling organic matter on them. Then I rake the paths until I get all down to the clay soil and pile that on and start again. (You wasent the first ;) 😅 I'm a gardener and never clean up after myself. My clients beds are always getting covered in leaves and the grass clippings. Some don't like it, but then they see the wildlife coming back and realise that a mulch is key to a healthy border. Gotta feed those worms! Irrigation and aeration ❤

Compost tea is great for small garden!

This is an inspirational idea 😃 Trust you to think out of the box and realise the potential of our paths 👏👏🇬🇧

our allotment council would have an aneurysm hehe but I like it. I'm thinking to do an inground wormery, saw a few youtube videos about it, seems handy, just the odd bucket in the middle of beds

Great idea! I must say it takes ages for my compost to actually break down so I use a combination action of homemade compost and bought compost because otherwise I just wouldn't have enough. But I have a spot I've earmarked for dumping stuff on and seeing how it goes! I might even pop a pumpkin seed in...

So Glad to see the follow up on this. It's such a great idea, I'm glad it was successful! Great work!

Genius idea! Thank you for your videos and creative thinking. Love watching them every morning to get my mind ready for the growing season

I watched your video and it make me want go out to my yard and get motivated do with the compost path. And I done it! 😊

Love this Huw. Very smart indeed and am astonished how much compost you got from it - nice work!

What a fantastic idea! Thank you Huw!

Thanks, Huw! What a brilliant idea! I never thought of using the actual garden paths as compost bins.

Great experiment and fantastic outcome. I have space but I may still experiment with this

Brilliant idea... just what I've been looking for. Thank you.

What a brilliant idea Huw! I mulch my paths with just wood chips but have been experimenting with using them as mulch once they are partially broken down. It only works for some crops though and not for beds where I want to sow directly

Oh, Huw, I have just the perfect area for your idea, behind my big pots of greens. I will remove the artificial turf path and cover it with carboard and start composting there. Thank you.

What a great concept! I would never have thought of this, thank you!

This is genius! 🎉 I am going to do it this season! Thank you for always beeing 2 steps in front of us, in front of our thinking😁 epic!

This is such a clever use of space!

That is amazing! Thanks for sharing the results, definitely something I am going to try.

What a brilliant idea!!

Brilliant. Easy and effective. Thanks a LOT

I have watched your concept video a year ago and did a very similar thing. Actually, I've started and cannot stop! That how amazing it is . What's more, but that's not for small spaces, instead of separating leaves in the autumn, I've been mowing the ground as soon as the grass started to grow and I am forming piles of dried leaves, dried grass and fresh grass and herbs clippings all mixed in the mower. The piles are formed on the grass and because they are high enough (15cm and counting) the grass/weeds underneath it die. I believe I can plant potatoes in those piles this year and switch to eg some cucurbits next year!

What a brilliant idea. Thank you very much!

Such a great idea. Thanks for sharing

Brilliant idea, I will definitely be trying this! 🎉😀

This is very helpful. Thank you, Hew!

Brilliant! I'm starting one ASAP!

Love this idea!

I'm now trying this approach at my allotment, between my pallet collars for the pathways.

Really love your garden

What a great idea!

On my goodness now I know how to make the most of a small area where I can use as a compost..result. Thank you so much 😁

I love making compost and it is one of the best things veg growers can do. Thank you for the video Huw and keep up the good work. Kind regards. Gary

Brilliant, thanks for the info. You've given me another compost alternative, cheers!

WOW. thank you so much. I will! Be doing this.

Great video and idea Huw a great amount of compost from that space

I've been doing this for a year now, sort of, not thinking about it being compost! Now I need to use my bounty for my beds!

This is genius, well done!

Brilliant! I love this idea!

Excellent idea!

Thanks so much for this, simple and brilliant!

Really love this idea, thank you!

That's brilliant Huw.

Thank you brother ! Great idea

This is an awesome Idea! Buying compost is probably the most daunting part of starting for me 😂

Great idea

I love this idea! Thanks.

Love this! Thank you 😊

Great way to create your own compost for your natural food vegetables

G E N I U S! Why not! Thank you for changing my way of thinking! I have plenty of square feet of pathways that can be put to good use!

Brilliant!

Wow this looks too good to be true Mr. Huw! 😲🤗

Excellent video

A great and super useful idea. Love it! 👍

Excellent video!

That's an original idea we'll done m8. Seriously genius stuff.

What a great idea 🙂

Excellent as always 👍🏻👍🏻

Brilliant! Thanks Huw.

Great idea, I’m going to start tomorrow!

What a great idea ,, 👏👏👏

Awesome ! Thank you

This is a great practical idea! well done.

Hey hey from iowaaaaay! (Iowa, United States) I have a big, beautiful black walnut tree in my growing area. Great…. I’ve tried raised beds, but the tree roots are insane. Last year I stated investing in grow bags. Added to the collection this year. I remember watching you start this process last year. Im going to do it this year between the bags!thank you! I just love watching and listening to you!

We do this in work. A permaculturist told us about it. Works a treat. We also have massive compost bays so it was more about the paths and every little bit helps than the space.

This is awesome

Excellent!

That is amazing❤

Looove it!!!!! ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

Brilliant

Heya! The great youtube channel, Edible Acres, does this as well! What a great system, I will have to try it

Good idea