Making soil in clay pots: Terra cotta composting 🪴
Build your own terra cotta composting system
What is terracotta composting?
Terracotta composting uses a stack of terracotta pots to process food and organic waste. This system works well for small families and households of 2 to 3 people. The terracotta pots all have drilled holes for aeration and the bottom pot has its bottom removed with netting for airflow. They can be stacked anywhere--indoors, on a balcony, or a shaded outdoor area.
This instructable shows how to make a terracotta composter. Here's another DIY guide.
This garden uses a tall terracotta pot with the bottom removed (you can also use a rhubarb forcer) and placed on top of a 1-metre deep hole.
How does it work?
You'll need:
2 to 4 terracotta pots that fit on top of one another
A drying, absorbent material, like dried leaves, cocopeat, or sawdust
Newspaper or recycled/scrap paper
You can even buy terra cotta pots and simply drill some holes in them like so:
Once you have your pots, you'll layer newspaper, the drying material, and food waste like a lasagna until the top pot is full, then you move the top pot to the second-to-bottom position, as indicated in this video:
When can I harvest the compost?
Check the older pots every month to see whether the organic materials are breaking down well. You may need to add some more dry material if it’s too wet. Since larger pots are used in this technique, you should be able to harvest in 2 to 3 months. If you find that your materials haven’t broken down sufficiently so you cannot vacate that pot, simply get another and stack it on top. Once ready, it should look like this:
