Compost cage

Get maximum aeration into your precious garden compost with this handy cage.

Build a compost cage for your garden

You will need

14 x 5mm galvanised wire rope grips
Clean cloth
Paint stirrer
Paintbrush
Resene GP Metal primer
Resene Supergloss tinted to Resene Summer Green

Sandpaper
Spanner
Steel reinforcing mesh measuring approx 2m x 1m (ours was ‘Handy Mesh M665’ from Mitre 10 Mega)
Turps for washing brush

Handy hint: Take care when bending the piece of reinforcing mesh to shape. if necessary, Get someone to hold in position while you fix the wire rope grips.

Top tip: When your compost cage is full, leave the worms to do their thing, and once the compost has fully decomposed, simply lift the cage off and start the process again.

Fence Paint: Mark stained the background fence with Resene Woodsman tinted to Resene Warm Kwila.

How to build a compost cage

Step 1 Step one
Bend the piece of reinforcing mesh into an oval shape, overlapping by one row of squares and fix together with 5mm galvanised wire rope grips, as shown.

Step 2 Step two
Working on a small section at a time, gently sand the reinforcing mesh to remove any light rust and other surface impurities.

Step 3 Step three
Wipe off any sanding residue with a clean cloth. Repeat steps two and three until the cage is completely sanded and free of light rust.

Step 4 Step four
Carefully stir the Resene GP Metal primer with a paint stirrer.

Step 5 Step five
Apply one coat of Resene GP Metal primer to the entire cage, ensuring that the areas around the wire rope grips and overlapping steel are fully and generously coated. Allow to dry for 12 hours.

Step 6 Step six
Carefully stir the Resene Supergloss tinted to Resene Summer Green with a paint stirrer.

Step 7 Step seven
Apply one coat of Resene Supergloss tinted to Resene Summer Green to the entire cage and allow to dry for 16 hours.

Step 8 Step eight
Apply a second coat of Resene Supergloss tinted to Resene Summer Green to the entire cage. Allow the paint 16 hours to dry before placing your cage in its final position and filing with compost components.

Words and photos by Mark Rayner

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Resene Paints Ltd – www.resene.com