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Soil, Compost & Mulch

Showing off my new Compost Bin

16 years ago

Hey there y'all,

I was cruising through Barbara's web page the other day and saw the part about her new compost book. On the page, there was a picture of a bin made from pallets, so I got DW to bring some home, and we put it together this morning.

We did do one improvement, which is that we lined the thing loosely with plastic to keep stuff from getting pitched out through the slats, and also to hopefully keep the chickens out, which is why we built the bin in the first place, b/c they were eating all my greens. :(

The next door neighbor has horses, and he picks his stalls every day, so he just brought us a load o' poo and litter (sawdust). I had dumped a 5-gallon bucket of chicken poo and a 5 gallon bucket of horse poo from the field next door earlier, so I think we're good on poo for the moment. Need some veggie matter now.

L

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Comments (9)

micronthecat
Original Author
16 years ago
Durn it, I want to put a picture in here (NOT a link, a picture)and I can't figure out how. Help please!!!

Thanks.
L
madmagic
16 years ago
Hi Micronthecat. If you click on the forum FAQs link below and scroll down slightly, you'll see a link titled "Inserting Pics in Posts" which should help answer your questions.

All the best,
-Patrick

Here is a link that might be useful: forum FAQs, including
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kioni, years ago, I dated someone who had that style of composter, and what we decided was best for the turning was to lift it off of the pile (since it's conical and open on the bottom), put it back down next to the pile, and re-load it with a shovel or pitchfork. That meant that the composter moved back and forth, but it wasn't too bad. We also tried something similar that involved knocking over the pile after removing the composter, so that you could put it back in its original location. You're right that getting the stuff to finish can be hard, and it's nearly impossible if you keep adding new scraps. I'm convinced that having 2 (or more) bins is the only way to go, so that one can finish while you still have someplace to add the new stuff. We were not faithful in layering our greens and browns, except on the rare occasion that we had a larger batch of stuff to put in (pretty rare indeed). I also figure that if you're going to turn it with any regularity, the stuff will get mixed up then. When I rebuild my new bins (it will be in the 50s tomorrow and the next day...so maybe then?), I'll have a bunch of leaves, yard waste, shaken out sod from the new garden bed, and a Winter's worth of kitchen scraps (the composter was full and at a dead halt, so we stockpiled the kitchen scraps in lidded buckets)...plus the stuff from the top of last year's pile that didn't do anything after the cold set in. So, this time I'll do some layering to get things started. For our new Spring compost, I will initially have more than one barrel worth of stuff, too (the sod alone is taking up most of a barrel), though that will change rapidly as soon as things start to break down. Once the big settling happens, I'll move all of it into one barrel, and actually let it finish off, while I use my other barrel for new additions. Or so goes the theory. :-)
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dalton thanks for the pics. I have been talking to my husband about making a bin. When I saw your pallets I knew that was the bin for me. Maybe because I can get the pallets free and it does not look hard to do. Swanz that is a very nice bin my hats off to you. I tried to do that once and my daughter just laughed at the finished product and my family threw it out. Oh well so much for building things.
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I know it takes a little while for it to start really cooking and that once it does, if I add anything to it, I'm starting all over again, right? Because you won't be able to turn the pile, just fill the bin as you get materials ... keep topping it off with grass clippings, dead leaves and such, keeping a reasonable balance of "wet green" versus "dry un-green" stuff. End with a layer of dried leaves and pack them down in the fall. Let it sit until when you look about 6-8 inches down it's looking like dark crumbly stuff. If you aren't turning it and watering it, it takes longer to compost but it still gets there. By next spring you should have the center core of that bin as a nice finished compost. Here is a link that might be useful: Cheap Wire Compost Bin: Cold composting method
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Ah, to live in the 'tropics' of zone 6 and being able to do outside fun this late in the season. (she says, enviously) Sounds like fun AND functional, brandond. I, too, hope there are pics. Kris
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digdirt2
16 years ago
We did do one improvement, which is that we lined the thing loosely with plastic...

Keep in mind that by lining it with plastic you have greatly restricted the needed air flow to the pile - one of the main advantages to using pallets. ;) It will likely need more frequent turning as a result. And if the plastic also encases the bottom of the container, excess moisture will collect there and you could end up with anaerobic compost and odor problems.

I understand the need to keep out the chickens - lining it with chicken wire works well for that while not restricting the air flow - but composting requires lots of air circulation and good drainage so as a general rule of thumb, plastic and composting don't work well together. ;)

Just some thoughts to keep in mind.

Dave
cowgirl2
16 years ago
This bin along with several others were built with pallets for a school composting project. Taking the old pallets apart requires some additioanl work but is well worth it.

I also have concerns with lining the bin with plastic. May I suggest landscape fabric as an alternative.

Here is a link that might be useful: Compost Bin
tiffy_z5_6_can
16 years ago
Cowgirl2,
I like those compost bins. Looking to replace mine this summer so I might refer to your photos to rebuild.

Oh, and are those your poppies??? WOW! That's quite the collection! Beautiful!
loveofmylife680
16 years ago
Great job got to show this to my hubby. Thanks for the pics .
Jill B.
esobofh
16 years ago
Nice build.. great job!

The only suggesting I would make is to leave the bottom out.. having teh compost in contact with the soil really makes it work better - that's where all them composting critters come from!
cowgirl2
16 years ago
>

No do not leave the bottom out.

The bottom serves a couple of purposes. One, it make the bin a stand alone structure which allows repair and rebuild of each individual bin as required. In a proper compost operation you would have at least 3 bins. One of which is always empty. Secondly, by having the bin off the ground air moves up though the bin. My experience has found that the legs also need to be placed off the soil to prevent rotting. Placing a brick or stone under each leg is recomended.

As for the compost critters, I don't know which ones you have in mind. New compost inoculation is done with the regular addition of garden soil and mature compost. Insects and mice have no problem finding the bins.
snidelywhiplash z5b
16 years ago
To keep stuff in my bins, I've always used hardware cloth with a 1/4" mesh. If you look around, you can find it in either metal or black plastic (nice because it doesn't corrode).

Jason

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