Plant a green crop in your vege garden now. Turn it over in the spring before it goes to seed.

You don't need a bin- you can just pile it.

The absolute easiest bin is a length of green wire garden fence. Leave tag ends on one side, bend them over, bend the fence into a circle and hook the tag ends to connect the fence ends.

Fill it up. When you want to turn- unhook it, move the fence and rehook it, fork the material back in. No nails, extra wires, pallets to move or screw together, extremelyportable, and very very cheap.

Watch out with the plastic tarp that you are allowing air. A good covering of cardboard will probably shed enough water.

Stop buying peet moss. Shredded leaves are better and free.

Another suggestion- just keep adding the compostables directly to the garden bed. No turning, no managing. This is more or less what I do. I do keep a hot pile for composting meats, fats, bones, etc.

I think the easiest way is to just sheet compost. Pile the organic material up where you want/need compost, then you don't even have to spread it later. It's already there. I did that last fall and in spring in was compost. Very few recognizable items remained, and the soil was wonderful. This year I'm just mulching as much as possible, mostly with shredded leaves, and some green stuff as it comes available. It might not be the 12 to 18 inches of stuff recommended for lasagna gardens, but I have no doubt there will be improved soil over time.

Karen

I am starting a new rose bed, so I got 4 wooden pallets and filled 'em up. Now, I can't turn it (it's huge!) but it stays REALLY hot (which is good) and as it shrinks I add more stuff. I like it b/c it keeps stuff in an enclosed space, and conserves moisture and heat. (Plus my Mom wouldn't let me build a big pile). Of course, now that it's full, I built a big pile on one side of it with extra OPL.

Here is a link that might be useful: easy compost bin

FIRST THING--Gardenweb changed my user name!!! It's now "judysgardens" just so you all know it's me! Hee hee!

I don't think I can do the sheet type composting because I live in the lower Cascade mountain foothills and we get lots of animals like elk, deer, wolves, coyotes, etc. I also have a dog who likes to get into stuff! I'm thinking that I am going to build a 2-bin container system with a hinged door on the front so I can get to the stuff to turn occasionally. I will cover it with a plastic tarp, otherwise it will really get too wet in the winter here. It rains constantly all winter! Also, animals could get in.

Pablo_nh, the wire fencing bin sounds good, too. But I was thinking of getting some posts to actually make it a square shape and then when I open it, the other 3-sides will remain in place. One problem is that where I'm going to put it, next to the shed, is wide and narrow. Probably about 4' deep by 10' wide. So, I was thinking I'd put the 2 bins side by side without a middle piece, and when I want to turn it over, I'd just move it into the second bin. What do you think?

I use cheap and simple arrangement for my seven piles. Hardware cloth 24" high, mesh of 1/4", four to five feet in diamater. Costs about $14, big enough to retain heat if you want to compost hot, two minutes to put up, and easily moved.

You can store leaves (preferably shredded) for next years use if you have more than one.

With hot composting, I get compost in three to five months. My tumbler promised compost in 14 days, but never delivered even when I weighted all ingredients on the scale to ensure a optimal C:N ratio.

There are many bins and composting methods. I recommend trying one that is cheap and easy, and that means not a commercial product.

My point on the wire bin is that you never need to open a side. Throw stuff on top, move the bin to turn it, that's it.

You can sheet compost anything, except in your case food scraps. Shredded leaves, manure, pine needles, spoiled hay, straw, used coffee grounds, etc.

12' of wire fencing will make almost a 4' diameter cylinder. roll it tighter if you want smaller. I use the plastic wire ties as fasteners, that way you don't have cut and bend the fence ends. This is quick and easy. stores well. and can make a great holding pen if you decide to make a "better" compost bin. There is always a use for it.

As pablo stated there is no need for a bin, but that 12 feet of vinyl covered welded wire fence works quite well. Now some people get quite elaborate and will build several compost bins, some using the pallets the many products are shipped on and many of which are available for free from places where these products are delivered. 3 of those pallets will make a good bin. Some others will build a 2, 3, 4, or 5 bin composting strucure, some with roofs over them, and start filling bin 1 and then that material is turned into bin 2, and so on. What you use as a confinement system, if any, is not as important as composting and reducing the amount of waste you add to your local landfill.

I called our local feed store and they give away the wooden pallets. So I think I'm just going to get 6, wire them all together to make a double bin with the 2 front pallets able to open in the front for easy access. That structure should just cost me a few dollars since the pallets are free! Then I'll just move the pile from side to side to turn it. I think I'll also get some of the vinyl wire fencing and just create an additional cylinder to continuosly throw stuff in for next year.

I'm planning to do it this weekend even though it's going to rain all weekend!!! But, that's what it does here in the PNW and you just can't let it stop you! I'll let you know how it all works out! Thanks for all your suggestions.

L-Cherry-
Any suggestions on that green crop? Mine is a small bed- just 20 x 30 or so...Anything out there that I can just toss & go, or do I really need to get in there and actually plant it? Snow will be here soon in Z5.

Judy,

If critters are a problem, you can always trench compost. This is how my mom has been doing it since forever. If she has something really stinky like lobster shells she digs a deeper hole, but usually she just takes the day's kitchen scraps out to the garden and buries them. In summer she buries them between rows, in winter she buries them anyplace until the ground freezes, then she just dumps them on top until spring.

You could do a couple of trenches if you want to start with a big load of something stinky, but if you are going to do mostly kitchen scraps a daily hole will do fine.

I have an open pile next to my current veggie bed and that works fine but if I want to compost something really stinky like some chicken I forgot in the fridge or one of the casualties from my chipmunk eradication program I just bury it. So far that has worked extremely well.

If you're taking the pallets from a feedstore, you should mention to them that you'll take spoiled feed. They probably get some from time to time, and you could probably get it for little or nothing and it would make a wonderful addition to the compost

Great idea, bpgreen! What about straw?? Is that good for the compost heap, too? I know they have tons laying around loose on the ground.

The straw would be a brown. The potential drawback to straw is that I think it may have weed seeds in it. I may be wrong about that, but I think I read that someplace.

If you compost it with the right mix of feed, though, you could get a hot compost that would kill all the sees anyway and it wouldn't be an issue.

Cereal rye is a cover crop that can grow from seed in late fall.