Building Your Own Compost Bin

If you would rather not purchase a bin for your compost pile, you should still devise a Way to contain it. You can easily and inexpensively build your own bin. This will give You more control over the size of the pile and can prevent unwelcome animals helping Themselves to some free food.

If you are using recycled lumber and it has been treated (either painted or stained) make Sure it has been done using non-toxic material. You do not want anything toxic or Poisonous to come in contact with your compost, especially if you are going to be using it Where you are growing food.

You will need four 4-foot sections of 2X4 and 20 3-foot sections of 1X6 boards. Begin By hammering the 2X4 lumber pieces into the ground with a sledgehammer at the corners Of what will become a 3 feet squared container (space each corner post 3 feet apart). Next, put five boards to every side securing each end of the board to the corner post with Nails. Be sure to leave enough room in between each board for air circulation. You can Use a piece of plywood or another flat piece of material large enough to cover the top as a Cover.

Another way to build your own bin is to use new or recycled pallets. Find wooden pallets (you may be able to find them at a land fill site) and nail or screw them together to form a Square. If you want you can add a fifth to give the bin a bottom, but this is not necess! ary.

Another option is to enclose the pile with a wire mesh. You can either create a circle With the mesh and secure with metal ties or hammer wooden posts in a circle around the Pile and secure the mesh to the wooden posts.

Related articles from around the web:

Tips for Building a Compost Bin Before building a compost bin, decide what you need. One bin or three? Three-bin systems are popular. You can connect the bins, or line them up individually. Some people use the three bins for different types of compost (regularcompost, slow compost such as woody plants, and leaves collected in the fall).

The Awesome Pallet Chair (or My Recycled Garden, Part 2) Just in case you haven't figured it out I'm a bit of a lazy hippie. The hippie in me loves to be out in nature. The lazy part loves to lounge. Yet I've never had a really great outdoor lounge chair... until now! I started building with pallets when I needed a compost bin and I was instantly hooked.

Compost question in Grand Rapids: homemade vs. commercial bins View/Post Comments Backyard composting soon will be legal in Grand Rapids, as long as it's done in a commercially-manufactured bin. Should homemade, wooden composting bins be permitted, too?MLive.com File GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Backyard composting soon will be legal in the city, so long as certain rules are followed.

Composting: So Many Options, So Few Rules Composting is easy, produces concrete benefits (excellent compost and fresher smelling garbage cans), and helps protect your sewer/septic system. Apartment-dwellers and homeowners alike can compost. There are just a few basic rules to follow when composting. Compost vegetable scraps, egg shells (but not eggs), coffee grounds/used tea bags, and...

Puzzled By Compost Making Rules? Are you tired of reading about 50:50 and 60:40 brown-to-green compost ratios? Tired of reading about tossing your compost every 4 weeks? The real compost answer is much simpler than that. All those compost perfectionists probably put a lot of people off composting. The Theory Organic matter breaks down into simpler components in a compost...

Related searches: Compost Pile, Recycled Lumber, 2x4 Lumber, Compost, Pallet, Recycling, Mesh, Lumber, Garden, Organic matter, Wood,

Image credits:
compost piles topped off with fresh green grass clippings (Photo credit: anneheathen)
Orange-staining Puffball (Photo credit: Dendroica cerulea)