I like 25 gallon butts and I cannot lie

22 February 2008

See what I did there? That’s a reference to popular culture.

I went from a black rubbish sack full of decomposing leaves to a little silver plastic bin into which I put my prized horse poo, moss and leave and what not. However that bin was soon full and I began to set my sights on a larger lidded container. I thought those little plastic bins that were designed to look like real dustbins were widely available in tat shops, but no, I have concluded that they have been withdrawn from sale in order to spite me. I found a nice blue bin in Mum’s catalogue … it was discontinued.

Not to be defeated, but certainly to be driven to talking endlessly about bins, I took my search online. Try searching for butt at Amazon. The results were not quite what I was aiming for. But anyway, I couldn’t find any plastic bins I liked. It was all either too big, too small, too expensive or too neon pink.

Finally I found a water butt at a local garden centre that seemed pretty good, but I didn’t want the stand and all the plumbing crap that came with it. It was £30 with all that tarry diddle; £32.30 without it. I wasn’t going to pay either way just on principle, so back I went to the electric internet and got the water butt delivered to my door, without all the crap, for £30.98, which adds up as far as I’m concerned.

There were even some free leaves in the bottom of the butt, which have now been joined by piles of moss, manure, leaves, coffee grounds and kitchen scraps. I am rather looking forward to continuing to add not just more kitchen waste, but also the waste that will be coming from my patch this year once the growing and weeding gets underway. Things are just beginning to come to life in the garden: budding flowers and leaves and ribbeting frogs looking for action too.