The compost bin doesn't need to be in the sun. The heat comes from microbial activity. I've got a bin that is in pretty much complete shade all the time (shed, fence, large tree around it). The compost temperature was up over 150 F a few weeks ago.

the shade might be preferable, because you don't want it to dry out. my compost pile is very ugly (3 sections built out of cinderblock) and my neighbors see it from their driveway. i've often thought of getting a length of willow or bamboo fencing, and standing it behind the bins -- ie, not attaching it with posts. this way it can be easily moved when i need access, but hides the cinderblock attractively the rest of the time.

It don't matter where you place it. Rot happens. It could be as fancy or carefree as
you like.

The sun is not an important consideration of where a compost pile might be, but you want it near enough to the source of material that it will get used and near enough to the place the finished compost will go that you will move it there. The location is always a compromise between these and usually you end up in the most convienient place.
My bins are located on the north side of the garage and yard tool shed (that was built especially for compost bins with the bottom 4 feet concrete blocks) with easy access from the driveway. A bit far from the house and the gardens but not so far that loading presents a problem and in such a place that it is easy to bring in bulk manure and the leaves hauled in from town.

kimmsr,

do you mean the floor of your compost bin is concrete block?

Mine is right next to my vegetable garden. I just pitch and toss.

And it helped the worms move in....next to the bin in the garden was a patch of dirt that was so loaded with worms it looked like a horror movie (if you were scared of worms).

I'm having a little trouble with finding a spot for my bin. The front garden is out, and the backyard is basically one open area where (currently) you can see everything at a glance. It's not a large area, either, so even a prefab plastic compost bin wouldn't fit in very well.
The only spot I have, really, is a very damp, dark area between the east side of the house and a large hedge. It's not as accessible as I'd like, but I guess it'll have to do.

I wonder, though if the perpetual dampness there (the violas love it), will make everything too wet and slimy. Maybe shredded paper or leaves in the bottom of the bin would help?

Sounds like a good spot to me, Chris. Can you make a pile or bin with no bottom? I'll bet the earthworms will make their way up into your materials and everything will rot down in no time, if you have a good proportion of browns (like chopped leaves) to greens.

The compost bin is not the 'Man of Steel'. Unlike SupermanÂ, it doesn't require full sunlight to hardness the super powers of composting. :)

Folks,

I just cleared out an area in the woods to add more composting areas. I already have one pile there made using pallets and the problem I have is that it seems like roots from nearby trees and bushes grow up into the pile. I was thinking on the new piles that I might put plastic sheeting or a tarp down as a barrier to this. What do you think?

I think this would also keep more moisture in.

Chuck

Actually because I did grow raspberries near my double compost bin at my previous home I had the trouble that their roots grew into the compost. So when I dug out the compost one year, I put a piece of wood or sheet metal or something at the bottom. That helped. We can get too much rain, though, so keeping moisture in is not something I usually need to try to do in my area. Hubby said no more raspberries near the compost, so maybe I shouldn't have advised that. They did disguise it well, though, and gave a lot of fat berries.

Last year I grew sunflowers next to one bin. I have 5 acres, so I don't need my compost bins disguised or landscaped anymore. But since the soil around them gets so enriched, I still like to grow things there.

We had a small pile of leftover topsoil dumped near an apple tree after some basement excavation work, it grew roots up into the pile very quickly. Now I feel guilty when I dig up the topsoil, since I am hurting the tree.

Marcia

I've been watching this post and I noticed two mentions of raspberries by compost bins.

*It just so happens that I am a new gardener who has decided to try composting.
*It just so happens that I am a new gardener who wants to try growing raspberries.

So my questions are: Do most of you think growing raspberries near a compost bin would be a good thing and, if so, why? Is it just that any plant would do well near a compost area if the bottom of the compost area has no bottom and the compost enriches the soil in that particular area? Or is there some other reason why raspberries would do well in a compost area?

I have snap peas growing/climbing up one side of my square compost bin, daylilies and violets on another side, and dill plants and violets on the back side. The front side is open, and faces my raised bed garden, for easy access, about 5' distance in between them. I made it from coated green fencing, doubled over to make the openings smaller, and attached to short green metal poles. It sits in "my" backyard which is a large open space shared by two four-unit apartment buildings. No one has said anything negative about it, other than occasional curiosity about composting. It sits right out there, too. It's a new and nice subdivision, and I have the only veggie/berry/flower garden within sight. Everyone else has lawn, lawn, lawn...*yawn*!

I think the raspberries thing is mainly that 1) they are yummy, and 2) they grow into thick thickets that would hide the bins from sight very effectively, very quickly. :-)

Yes, the thing with raspberries is they grow to their max height fairly quickly, and that height is about the same as the height of a compost bin. So they screen quickly. Anything you grow next to a compost bin will grow well from the runoff of nutrients. Black raspberries are very vigorous and the roots kept invading the compost bin, but red or yellow raspberries wouldn't be so crazy like that. I LOVE raspberries, so it was a two birds with one stone kind of thing for me. I used to live in a nice suburb so immediately screened my first compost bin with vegetation. I also grew tall flowers around it.

When those bins fell apart after many years, we built new pallet bins much closer to the garden and more visible still. They looked very nice, though, and blended in with a wooden fence about 20 feet away, nobody ever complained about them. Hubby didn't want to fight the black raspberry roots, so he said no more raspberries by the bins. They were partly under a big maple tree, so one plus there was that some of the leaves fell directly into the compost bins.

At my first house, we had a small chickenwire bin between the air conditioner and the house. Nobody ever knew it was there unless we told them. It was a townhouse, connected on both sides to other houses. A peony bush and some flowers were between it and the closest other house. So when people tell me they have no place to put a compost bin, I know they just aren't trying hard enough!

Marcia

I have wild blackberries and raspberries attacking my old pallet bin (no longer in use). They do quite well over there- though it seems they do well anywhere around here.

I do prune them after fruiting to encourage production.

I would recommend against raspberries/blackberries around the bin because they will invade, and because the thorns may become an issue if you plan to be in and out of the bin a lot.