A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 How to make a compost bin III

Sounds good to me. Hope your project works well for you. I believe the optimum size for a compost pile is 3 X 3 but I don't remember where I read that. So verify the information because my memory is occassionally faulty.

Tammy,
I just wish I could get out and
turn my compost...
You are so very lucky...
*Turn your compost an extra few times
for me will ya!!!*
Mine are frozen solid...

My pile is not frozen either we have had very mild weather so far, my pile was frozen for a few weeks, but that was almost a month ago. I have managed to get mine turned a few times, I have been really sick, but I have tons of new stuff to add to the pile as soon as I feel up to loading it all in the wheelbarrow and adding it.

I added 4 heaping wheelbarrow loads of stuff from my chicken pen....chicken manure, straw & feathers today to my compost pile...It is really big, so have decided that I will start a new pile this coming week, better watch out Weezie I may catch up with you... :p

hehehehe....
Have fun tryin'...
(2 plastic, 3 wooden, 1~twin barreled tumbler..
plus a huge pile I'm workin' on in the back...)

That's alot of compost..

I would love to hear about you getting more bins..
That's always music to my ears when I hear
about people really getting more into composting.

The good part about starting a new pile is that I am going to use pallets to make more bins (see the s on bins..LOL) DH already said if I get the pallets he will secure them together for me, so I am out to hunt pallets this week. Where I plan to put the new bins are right behind the one that is full and there is room to put three side by side besides my big wire bin. All of these are close to my chicken pen also behide a shed out of site and not far from the garden. When the new bins get built I'll post pictures.

Comfrey, I made the mistake of making only two bins at first. I found myself using partially unfinished compost more often than I liked so I added a third pile to the side of my two bins. Much better system IMO.

I have a huge mound of stuff on the back porch...Everywhere that had pallets, seem to all of the sudden have none, So very soon I am going to have to just put it on the ground next to the first bin, there are some small pieces of tin that I can make some sides with to keep it in one place, until I can find some pallets. But I do plan to make at least two bins with them besides the big wire one. John do you have wire on the sides of yours?

When I first starting reading up on composting,
most, if not all, suggest the 3 bin method..
One you are throwing your stuff in, one you are letting rest,
and one you are using the stuff out of it..
That way, you're not still adding to the top, taking out of the bottom, and running into that chance of using not completely composted materials.

But, as I speak with alot of gardener's who would like to or already are into composting... but don't have the space, then, any method to get compost is GOOD...

I recommend the 7 bin method...
and wish I was using the 20 bin method...hehehehehe

Johnnnnnnnnn, great lookin' compost you got there..
You're a man after me own heart dontchya kin!!!!

Yes comfrey. I lined the inside with hardware cloth.


Thanks weezie. I have more rocks than I could possibly ever use. I cannot put a shovel in the ground without hitting a rock!

I need to move to Connecticut...
Here in town, I'm just blessed with nice soil..
*I think it was a farm section (I know there was a barn here) before others moved in and built house's on the street..

You makin' a Rock Garden???????

You're welcome to come and pick up as many as you want! How far are you from Central CT?
Not really, I've saved most of the flat shaped ones that I was going to make a large hosta garden on a large shaded, sloped area of my property. I use the other ones here and there for interest, but most get piled out back.

I have relatives in Easton... and N.J. is that close???

What I wouldn't do for some big rocks like that..
You've got a little gold mine and you don't even know it...

Have you ever been interested in rock gardens?

My father had a real "ROCK~EYE" so to speak,
I on the other hand, DON'T!!
I will have to see if I can scan the picture I have of his rock gardens....

Yeah, tell that to my back thats had to dig them all out!

Ohhhhhh, I believe it John,
I believe it...

Only satifaction to the pain is the
gorgeous out come of gardening and a feeling of a job well done...

I have just moved into my new house (4 months ago) and in the back garden (yard) there was a wooden 'box' that was being used for outside storage (kids toys, etc). I've since taken all the bricks out the bottom, and turned it into my compost heap.

It's about a meter square by maybe 75cm's tall. It has wooden sides all round, and a wooden top (with felt lining to keep it water tight). I've since stopped using the top and kept it open, though I have plastic sheeting to try to retain moisture.

I'm very new to the whole composting thing, but it has a lot of cuttings from things I've hacked back (not much wood though), some grass cuttings, and is being filled with a lot of kitchen left-overs (fruit cores, banana peels, salad, left over broccoli, cabbage, etc.) all uncooked.

Now for the question:

I've heard you're supposed to layer the bin, but as I only have one, everything seems to just go in, and then gets mixed up when I'm near it with a fork.

Is this OK, or should I have a tighter strategy for the compost?????

Thanks for your help.

Sounds like you're off to a great start!


Sure it is. Compost will happen no matter what you do to it. The only drawback would be that you'll have some unfinished material when you go to use it. Thats not a bad thing. You could always just throw any unfinished stuff back in the bin.

Glad to hear it :-)

Something I thought of last night though. As I only have one bin, when the compost is ready to use (would this be maybe late summer?), should I have another container to move it into, so I still have a bin for the rest of my stuff? Would a garbage can be any use?

Thanks.

Ahh yes. See, this is where a multiple bin system shines. One for finished material, one working and one for new material. You can have finished compost in a month if you actively maanage it. Turning, watering, etc. Anything you can find to hold it would suffice.

Like John said, I love the 3 bin system.
*well, I do the 7 bin system*
but if you don't have the space for the 3 bin system..

Empty your compost pile, that you have right now,
and if it's not done or finished composting..
but it in a brown or green plastic garbage bag..
and put it in the sun..>the dark bag in the sun, causes heat inside the bag and finishes the final thrawls of composting..... and you can start re~loading the bin back up with stuff, and working it and filling it...

While the other in the back is finishing up..

*I did that and it turned out wonderfully*


Although you will end up with some big chunkes in the bags... you can take that big stuff and throw it back into another compost pile you start, and that will help that new bin start to active it'self with microbes that are on it and in it...
to jump start the new bin...

We have the big brown bins for the council to collect garden refuse (I fill mine with all my big twigs and weeds that won't be much use in my own composter :-)). They have wheels on, so wondered if they'd be any use? Do you think they'd heat up the same as a platic bin liner, or should I just buy a wheelbarrow for transporting this stuff around my yard?

The big brown bin should work fine or a trash can will work. I have one bin which is made out of chicken wire, but as weezie and John both pointed out...You will always need another bin. Mine needs to to worked on as far getting the finished or semi finished out of it, so I can add more stuff. I had planned to make a pallet bin, but that is not working out everywhere that had pallets all the sudden have none, So will proable make another wire bin.

How's everyone's compost doing???
Cookin' yet?????

Weezie...glad you asked. I've been meaning to pick your brain for a while...you've got a compost tumbler, right? I bought an Urban Compost Tumbler last fall. I tried to do a batch that started to decompose some...it was getting a little dry, so I added water and spun it. After weeks, nothing was happening. I used the contents to plow into a row.
I took Mike McGrath's advice, the guy on NPR's "You Bet YOur Garden" I mixed shredded oak leaves (I bag about 100 to 150 bags of mostly oak every year) and LOTS of chicken poop, plus about a gallon of kitchen scraps. Now, this stuff sat and did nothing again...I've tried to keep it moist but not wet, and not spin it TOO much. I wasn't surprised during the cold weather, but we've had a record heatwave most of this year. Any thoughts?
I do bunches of compost bins...mostly just round wire structures...but I don't turn them. I wanted the tumbler so I'd have clean, complete compost.