Nope, you don't need a bin at all. Just make sure you turn it often because so much greens in the compost pile and no browns can cause odor. Actually, a better idea is let the grass clippings turn brown first to prevent them from becoming anerbic and smelling. If it does begin to smell, give it a sprinkle with the water hose. You need to keep it moist anyway. To help add some browns, wood shavings is a good addition. If there's a saw mill, a hay barn, or a construction site near you, ask if you can sweep the floor for them LOL. Hey, it's funny but free. If you have some wood but no shavings, make a small bonfire now and then to burn it and then add the ashes. You want unpainted wood though. Is there an ocean near you? Ground up some seashells. You'll be surprised how much you find around you that aren't in your own backyard. There are also lots of things from inside the house you can add to the pile like used tea bags, brewed coffee grounds w/ the filter, egg shells (crush them), almost anything you would put down the garbage disposal can go into the compost pile. Most people I talked to don't put meats in it but some do. Do you eat corn off the cob? Throw the cob when you're done. Hair, dryer lint, and even an old ragged cotton tshirt. believe it or not. My only concern is that the grass disease. You'll want to make the compost heats up really good to take care of that. There is much, much more to learn on composting on the Soil, Mulch, & Compost Forum. Really great folks over there just like here. I mentioned never using Scott's fertilizer without regard for whether you necessarily have that brand product. I only meant any store-bought fertilizer by whatever name. Instead use grains to fertilize the lawn. Alfalf meal, soybean meal, etc. or processed sewer waste. Apply grains at 10-20 lbs per 1000 square feet. You likely need to find a feed store near you. Wish I lived in France, South of France to be exact.

Baking Soda, Sodium Bicarbonate, is an alkaline substance with a pH of abnout 8.2. Baking Soda will not lower a soils pH. You would need pounds of Baking Soda to make any significant change to a soils pH. As a general rule of thumb what is available to organic gardeners to lower a soils pH is sulfur, but how much to use depends on what your soils pH is, how much that pH might need to be lowered, the type of soil you have, how much organic matter is in that soil. If your soil needs a pH adjustment the best source of information about doing that would be your state universities Cooperative Extension Service. They will be able to tell you what your soils pH is, after a soil test, and what and how much material is needed to lower that pH. As a general rule of thumb it takes about 1 pound of sulfur per one hundred squaer feet of garden to lower the ph 1 point.

Here is one I got from a book: - 1 teaspoon baking soda - 1 teaspoon oil (any oil will do, like cooking oil) - a few drops of liquid soap (I use natural dishwashing soap) - 1 litre of water This is much like what Elks proposes above, with the added benefit of oil, which makes sense as it helps to make the mix stickier so it stays on longer. A word of advice, though. I find that if I start with the water and add the other ingredients to that, this will hardly ever become a homogenous mixture. Therefore, I would try mixing the baking soda, the oil and the soap really well first and only then diluting this slowly with the water. I just sprayed two pumpkins with this (they caught it from a pair of garden center bought zucchini - so much for buying started plants!). I used a brass plant mister for this (see link below). While this may be far from being a standard garden tool, I find this works better than other implements as it really creates a fine cloud of mist that can reach where other tools can't (we all know how tough it can be to get the stuff UNDER the leaves, where it really matters). When almost full, you can even turn it up to target leaves from below and still works great. Also, because the mist is so fine, there is less waste and also less of a chance of overdoing it and burning the plant. Just saying, because I have been wondering if it just might be that those who complain that baking soda doesn't work for them are simply not applying the stuff right. I'll let you know what gives. Here is a link that might be useful: Brass plant mister

Most double-acting baking powders contain both cream of tartar and an aluminum salt (along with the sodium bicarbonate). The former works at room temperature. The latter only at oven temperature. Rumford baking powder substitutes monocalcium phosphate for both the cream of tartar and the aluminum salt. It works just like regular double-acting baking powder at room temperature but it rises less in the oven. It's sort of halfway between single-acting and double-acting in that respect. I use it because I think that the regular double-acting has a nasty taste. --Doug