r/jocompost

I'm preparing my terraces for the hot hot heat! Temperatures in Greece climb north of 35 through June, July, Aug and Sep and are accompanied by furnace-like winds. Coupled with all the concrete white buildings its tough out there! Pictures show the front terrace in March 2026, and the front and back terrace today - June.

Here is my summer-ready planning:

1. Loosely hung hessian (burlap/jute) to protect from the worst of the afternoon sun across two spaces, leaving a gap in the middle for sub-loving plants and to flood my apartment with light to reach the succulents inside; and for breeze so it doesn't become a greenhouse.
2. Removable willow branch fencing, outside of the glass panels - not pretty but good protection.
3. Shuffled around the plants, moving the olive trees and two other hardy bushes into the sun gap space; moved all plants about 15 - 20 cms forward form the glass panels in the railing.
4. Created 'rows' - hardy plants in the back row and smaller less hardy plants in the front row.
5. Pine bark on top of soil to protect soil and roots and stop erosion from the intense winds.
6. Moved seedlings to the back terrace, also hessian-wrapped, where the sun is slightly less brutal.
7. Irrigation system set up and ready to go for the main planters, if I travel. With such a range of plants its difficult to set up one easy system for all their water needs, so I'll hand water everything and if I travel set it for 5 mins per day for all. The summer will be so hot they should be able to cope with this for a short time. The front 'row' of plants not connected to the irrigation will move to the back terrace (or bathroom?) if I travel.
8. Two bougainvilleas on lattice against the apartment wall are out of the irrigation system, they are hardy enough to cope.
9. Capturing air conditioner run off and filling up bowls placed amongst the planters (this might be useless but makes me feel useful).
10. Hoping, praying, worrying and acknowledging that if a plant cannot make it through the Greek summer with all my precautions perhaps we are not destined to be lifelong flatmates.

Very keen to hear any other suggestions, advice and feedback. I searched the internet for similar posts on summerising urban terraces and didn't find many - so I hope this is helpful to others too!

Ok so we have had a homemade compost bin (chicken wire and pallets) for YEARS, but we never paid a lot of attention to it. Occasionally we’d add some grass clippings or eggshells or whatever, with no regard to greens/ browns. I live in 6a and we also ignored the pile during the winter, when it sat frozen and uncovered. We do have a vegetable garden, though, so not having a good compost routine seemed like a missed opportunity.

Last week I ✨ hyperfocused ✨ on compost (thanks ADHD) and decided to replace the rickety contraption with a GeoBin. I realized that the bottom of the compost area looked good aside from it being overrun with roly-polies (it was in a shady spot). I picked out the big bits of newer stuff, then shoveled the rest onto a tarp and let it bake in the sun, vastly reducing the roly-polies. Then I sifted it through an antique metal grain sifter I already had.

I know some people think sifting compost is overkill, but I was curious what I’d find. I kept almost all the stuff that was sifted out (except fruit stickers and small bits of plastic) and cut up the bigger things we had recently tossed in whole (like corn husks) to be added to the new pile. I am also collecting sticks, cardboard, etc. for the new pile to balance out kitchen scraps.

I was so happy with the result! 😊 Not bad for totally ignoring this for years, right??

Thanks to everyone in this sub for sharing so much useful info!

I’ve been striking out with coffee shops near me, but I have a handful of coworkers who make 2+ cups of coffee a day at their desk. I asked if I could have their grounds and they were all happy to do something with them besides throwing them away!

It’s a bit of a labor of love emptying the keurig cups for everyone, but those little guys have a lot of coffee in them!

This tin gets pretty full by Friday and I take it home and add it to my pile :)

I always thought that compost piles were beautiful. I took this photo and am happy with how it turned out, just wanted to share