1. Mark out an area that is 1 x 2 meters in size (roughly the size of an average door).
2. It is best to place this close to the house, preferably in a sunny position (about 6 hours per day), and close to a water source such as a tap.
3. Dig out the area to a depth of 50cm, placing the soil neatly on one side in a pile. If the soil is really poor or rocky I would suggest that you separate the better quality top soil from the poorer quality and often rocky sub soil. The idea is to put to the soil back into the hole and replace the subsoil with god quality compost that you can either buy or make your own as described below. Do not throw away the rocks as they can be used for all sorts of things such as pathways, dry pack walls and even mulching around trees or newly planted shrubs.
4. You can now use this hole as a compost hole and place anything that comes out of your kitchen or garden into the hole. Keep an old rake handy and once you have dumped your compostable material into the hole spread it around evenly over the entire area. This will help it break down faster and helps stops smells. This is especially important with grass clippings that if simply dumped in a big pile will quickly turn smelly and attract flies.
5. Once you have spread the contents, cover them with a thin layer of soil and a small handful of agricultural lime which you can purchase from your local nursery. The soil contains microbes and organisms which help the whole composting process.
6. If you have access to animal manure (herbivores and birds only) you can also put a layer of fresh manure down.
7. The idea is to create these different layers, much like a good sandwich! The proportion between the layers is roughly about 10cm of green/kitchen clippings to about 3cm of manure to 1cm of soil and a handful of lime sprinkled over it. However do not worry if you can’t do the manure bit. The most important thing is to simply get anything that is compostable into the hole, spread it around and then lightly cover with soil.
8. Depending on how much kitchen waste you produce will depend on how quickly the hole fills up. I would say that it will probably take about a season to get it to the point where it has filled up, stopped subsiding, and broken down. Do not be surprised if you do get subsidence. This simply means that the materials in your hole are still breaking down. The microbes and organisms that do this breaking down need air and moisture to do their work and so you will need to water the hole to keep it evenly moist. In the rainfall season (summer in Gauteng and winter down in the Cape) there is usually enough rainfall to keep the moisture level at the required level but during hot dry spells you will need to supplement the hole with a sprinkling from the hose. Compost making can continue through the dry season (winter in Gauteng and summer in the Cape) but you will definitely need to water supplement during this time. Never drown the pit with water as this will cool off the heap to much. It is a little like cooking or the making of dough in that you will quickly learn how much water is needed to keep your compost hole warm and ‘bubbling’ away. In fact in very wet weather (and especially so if it is also cold) it is a good idea to actually cover the contents of the hole with some plastic to stop it from getting too wet and cold.
9. Now after about six months this hole should now be ready for planting. Get another hole going to continue the compost making process. In a new garden this is a very cost effective and an environmentally friendly way of starting up a garden and means that there is absolutely no excuse not to grow your own vegetables and cut down dramatically on the amount of rubbish you throw out each day from your home.
10. Place a stick or a plastic pipe in each corner of your bed. These simply allow you to cover the planting with either shading material during very hot weather or to protect the young plants from frost in winter.
11. Using 110mm plastic plumbing pipes as the corner posts allows them to be filled with water which will slowly seep into the bottom of the bed without loss.
12. I have always found it a good idea to create a simple obelisk or teepee with sticks in the middle of the bed to grow climbing plants such as peas in winter and beans in summer.
13. Planting at this time of the year (winter) can include the following: Celery, Broad Beans, Peas, Swiss Chard, proper Spinach, Coriander, Rocket.
    

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