A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 New composter

I want to start a compost bin, I have the general idea of how to start one, but I don't know what to put it in. I live in base housing and can't build a bin. I thought about a trash can, but it needs to get air, right? Any suggestions. Also, there is a big pile of leaves and sticks behind my house where the lawn people apparently piled up the leaves from the fall, can I use this?

Monica, they have some really nice Back Porch composters now available and they are pretty reasonable. They are also portable. I have friends who live on the base here and they don't have any problem with it complying to the rules. Check out some of the Back Porch composters on the internet and see if one of them would work.

Thanks Patches, will do!!

You're welcome, Monica!

Let me know what you find out and what you think about those Back Porch Composters. Composting is so much fun and it gives me such a sense of satisfation to be able to create all that "Black Gold" from things I used to throw away! My flowers love it!

I use a trash can no problem. Just drill a couple of holes in the bottom for drainage. And yes the sticks put in the bottom for air circulation and then you can put in brown leaves mixed with grass clippings for your compost. Grass clippings will smell if they are put in by themselves so you want about 75 percent brown stuff and 25 percent green stuff. Then just turn it as often as you can.