I’d been after a beehive composter for a while and once we’d finished our herringbone paving, I knew I wanted a pair of beehives either side of the bench that sits on this small seating area. Nervously, I asked the ‘facilitator’ if he’d have a go at making me some and he said yes!
We researched sizes, styles and materials on Pinterest and settled for a 55x55x90cm, which is comprised of 5 separate sections, plus the roof. We saw many designs that have either a removable door or open section at the bottom of the composter to allow you to access the compost as it decomposes – I decided against this as I didn’t want compost to fall out on my nice new herringbone paving and I’m happy to turn and dig the compost out, should I need to. I have to admit that I’m not sure if I will ever use them as composters – their primary aim was purely aesthetic, but the functionality is there should I change my mind.
We used 150x22mm treated timber and 150mm feather edge boards for the roof. Each section is braced in the corners for strength and to allow them to stack on top of each other; this gives flexibility to change the height (should you want to) as the composter fills up.
When built, I painted them with 2 coats of undercoat and 2 coats of exterior eggshell (Dulux Gooseberry Fool 3). I’ve left the feather edge unfinished, but the boards are pressure treated so don’t need any weather-proofing and I’m hoping they’ll silver over time.
If you’re not keen on the DIY version, I found some similar composters:
Harrod Horticultural have this lovely one – click here to purchase
Primrose also have another one – click here to purchase
If you have any specific questions regarding the design or manufacture of our DIY version, please do not hesitate to get in contact and I’ll ask the ‘facilitator’ to respond!
Lydia x
