Compost Bin

[Jeff Craven]

Not fine woodworking, but it was a quick easy project. My girlfriend wanted a compost bin, so this is what we built. She did all of the cutting (with a handsaw) and I just designed it and nailed it together. It's 3'6"T x 5'W x 3'D. Made out of spruce 2x3's. We left the bottom front open so we can get a shovel in there easily. The gap at the top was because we didn't buy enough boards. :o

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/1297/0315091223.jpg

Feel free to post pictures of your own compost bin in this thread!

[Jarrod McGehee]

we have a compost bin in my backyard and if you're a fisherman maybe you'd think about putting some worms in there because they'll grow bigger with all of the nutrients and try to keep it covered except when you're putting organic matter and soil/leaves in there to compost. too much water and/or sun will drown it out or dry it out. good luck. oh and a tarp should work for you. maybe you could do that on the sides too to keep from stuff falling out.

[keith ouellette]

I remember when I had a compost bin. It was a lot of work because I tended it often to get quick compost.

I switched to burying horse manure and beading in the unused parts of my garden so it would be ready the next time I planted. Much easier.

[John Thompson]

She hand-sawed huh..... :) You guys did a nice job on that compost bin as the bottom line is.. it works. I need a new one myself and Jarrod's idea of putting worms in there is dead on. I didn't put any in mine and pretty soon.. there were worms about 8" long it it.

Nice build...

Sarge..

[John Eaton]

A couple of comments on it - I've built many. I usually leave one side completely open so it's easy to get a shovel in there to turn the pile. The best pile I've ever made was actually two piles in the same structure - it was about 6x6x4' - an open square 4' high. I found three sections of pre-made PT fencing being thrown out by a neighbor and had some 4x4" posts for the corners so it was a quick build. By keeping a pile on each side you have an advanced pile and a place to put new clippings so there's always something being made. As the first pile you make starts to get close it sucks to add new materials to it so you move it to the second pile and start over. So the first pile in the new position has a chance to finish before more clippings are added to it.

The trick to active composting is to keeping it turned - the more air that circulates to the middle of the pile the quicker it'll break down into compost. I would make it a habit to turn the pile with a pitch fork about once a week or more often if I happened to think about it - the stuff turns to dirt (what you're looking for) very quickly in the hot months. The hotter the pile gets the quicker it turns into humus. To get it hot you basically need three ingredients - green stuff (for the nitrogen), brown stuff (old leaves work well) and water. It's the interaction of those components plus natural bacterial that reduces everything down. The usual formula is about 4-6" of green layered with 4-6" of brown, alternating. Add water - during the winter months the action is much slower. One thing you can do to speed up the process is to break the materials into the smallest pieces possible before adding - running the lawnmower over leaves works fairly well with a mulching blade.

For inactive composting you can just pile the materials up and let them set - they'll eventually break down (I do this with a pile of leaves I collect on the lowever part of the yard - about once a year I bring the partially composted pile up and add it to my two active piles to complete - otherwise it's not worth all the extra effort to bring all the leaves to the upper part of the yard where my piles are). Sorry if that was too much info on composting - I've actually been very successful at it and have taught a couple of classes.

-- John