Last summer, we tried to grow courgettes. We didn't get a very good harvest, which we put down to the poor quality and shallowness of the soil (there is a huge concrete slab under the patio/garden, which is too big to easily remove).

We decided that the easiest way to enrich the soil was to use compost so I started to use one of the spare tubs as a compost heap. Any garden waste or kitchen vegetable waste got thrown on to it. The tub was starting to get a bit full so I took most of the 'rotting' stuff in the lower layers and dug it into the garden, along with a few handfuls of the hemp-based animal bedding from the quail cage. Not only should the hemp rot down, but also the quail 'guano' should help fertilize the soil.