How To Build A Simple Compost Bin

In About 15 Minutes You Can Have Your Own Compost Bin

This really will take only about 15 minutes and I guarantee you that your plants will simply love you for it. If you grow your own vegetables in summer you will find that making your own compost will enable you to grow more vegetables and larger vegetables than you've ever grown before.

You want to go to Walmart or a simular place and buy a large 3 foot square large plastic container with a tight fitting lid. With a drill you will want to drill about 10 holes in the bottom and each side of your plastic container.

In the bottom of your Plastic Box place a 3 inch layer of dry leafs and then fill your plastic box 1/2 full with dirt. Now you have your Compost Bin ready to work. Every day save and place all your left over food scraps into the Compost Bin. Be sure you keep your Compost Bins lid on the bin at all times to keep critters out of the bin.

When you place food scraps into the compost bin give your compost bin a stir with a stick you keep handy at the compost bin for this purpose. Every few days sprinkle the inside of your compost bin with warm but not hot water. Remember to stir your compost bin often as this will help the compost to break down faster. Don't forget to add your egg shells and vegetable and fruit peelings to the compost bin. You will need to wait at least three months before you start to mulch your vegetable plants with your compost.

Remember never to use all your original compost. Always save at least 1/4 of the original compost to keep your compost bin going. If your compost bin appears to stay to wet reduce adding water to the compost bin and you may want to drill a few holes in the lid of your compost bin.

Below In This Photo Is A Simple Compost Bin

Here is a really simple compost bin can make and use.

How To Make A Compost Bin Out Of Simple Materials

You will want to purchase a large plastic container with a tight fitting lid. When you get it home you will want to drill holes in it with an electric drill all around the sides, the bottom and the lid. You will want the holes to be about 4 inches apart and you want to use a 2 inch bit to bore your holes. You will want to cut a piece of screen wire to fit in the bottom of your compost bin.

To start off your compost add about four inches of wood chips, straw, or sawdust in the bottom of the compost bin. Now add in any fruit or vegetable waste from your kitchen into the compost bin and then cover lightly with dirt. Repeat this each time you add new kitchen waste to the compost bin.

Finished compost should be dark, and rich and have a sweet smell. Once you are sure that it has rotted and broken down all that it will use it in your garden by side dressing the plants or apply it and use a garden tiller to work the compost into the soil. You will end up with a really rich garden and your vegetables should just jump out of the ground.

Click thumbnail to view full-size

In the above photo is compost that has went through the process of breaking down. When it is this mature you can apply it around your vegetable plants.

More Compost Bin Information

It is a historical fact that the very early Romans were probably the first ones to build and use compost bins and compost piles. Usually materials like vegetable scraps, overgrown vegetables like cucumbers and squash, yard clippings, leafs raked up in the fall and similar materials were piled up in a pile and allowed to decay. You can speed things up by using a plastic compost bin but you need to remember not to put meat, bones, or similar things in your compost bin.

How To Build A Simple Compost Bin

You can build or create a compost bin much easier than you can a compost pile. You can start out by purchasing the largest plastic container you can find at a local store for sale and go from there. You need at least a 36 gallon container and I would use larger ones if possible.

You want to purchase a roll of screen wire or rat wire to line the bottom of the compost bin. You want it to fit snug and you only need a piece large enough to fit tightly in the bottom of the container.

Turn the container upside down and bore three rows of one inch holes in the bottom of the compost bin. I bore holes in the corners and use screws with washers on each side to fasten my wire in place. You should end up with 30 - 36 holes in the bottom.

Now fill the bottom of the bin with shredded newspaper about 4-6 inches deep. Pour good quality dirt in on top of the newspaper to fill the bin one half full.

As you get the items in your house add egg shells, vegetable trimmings, old fruit and yard clippings to your compost bin.

As you add items to the compost bin stir the items in the compost bin down so that the dirt covers the new items you add to the compost bin. Try to stir the compost bin at least every other day. Add just enough water to keep the raw compost moist but not wet. The water helps in the breaking down process.

Over time you will notice that the compost is breaking down. I usually keep six compost bins going at a time because I need a lot of compost for my gardening projects.

You want it to look like the material in the photo just above before you put it on your garden. You only want to use mature compost that has finished breaking down.

Yard Waste Only Compost Bin

You can build a six foot by six foot wide compost bin out in the yard in a out of way place and put enough poles around it to hold up the weight. Build your four walls out of chicken wire stapled to the support poles. You then dump your raked leaves, yard trimmings, and etc in to the bin and pack it down as much as possible and as often as possible. These materials will take 3 - 5 years to break down into useable compost. Once you know its breaking down and getting hot in the center start stirring it up with a shovel about twice a week to hurry the compost along with its breaking down.

Nature Does Its Own Composting

In case you don't know nature does its own composting when the leaves fall off the trees in the fall of the year. They fall off onto the forest floor and there they get broken don and what results over time is rich soil that will in time feed the trees above.

Never Put Meat Or Meat By Products Into Your Compost Bin

If you forget and add meat or meat by products to your compost bin the meat and meat by products will attract rodents that you will discover are living in your compost. You don't want this. So remember to never add meat or meat by products.

Stir Your Compost Often

About once a week take a stick and stir up your compost being sure to stir up from the bottom of the compost. If you uncover any items you've put into the compost bin add enough dirt to cove the exposed items.

Composting 101 Information And More

Here you can learn everything you need to know about starting and maintaining a compost bin. You need a compost bin at your house.

Here is completed compost ready to be used in the garden or flower beds.

What Exactly Is Compost?

Compost is organic matter that has decomposed and it is used as fertilizer or a soil supplement. You can use yard trimmings, rabbit manure, and table scraps to create compost to be used to fertilize your garden plants.

Microorganisms break down organic materials to produce compost. It is essential that any compost used in the garden or flower beds be completely processed and well rotted or your plants will be burned up by the green compost and will die. See the photo above to see what finished compost should look like.

Earth worms can be added to your compost and they will reproduce and provide you with plenty of red worms for fishing. Be sure that you do your own research to see how you should set up your compost bin or heap for earth worms.

Vermicompost is using red wigglers or red worms to help to break natural natural organic materials quicker and the worms help to enrich the compost as they also help to break it down. Compost produced this way is nutrient rich and also contains worm manure.

Composting worms can be ordered on line or purchased from places that sell red wigglers or red worms to be used as fish bait. You should use plastic or wooden containers to set up your vermicompost pile in. Metal containers will bake and kill your worms so you want to avoid those.

The bottom of your compost bins used with worm composting require plenty of drainage holes in the bottom of the containers but its essential that you line the inside bottom of the container with screen wire over the drainage holes so the worms will not just crawl out and escape.

Red wigglers are the best worms to use to help break down organic materials. Regular worms you might dig up or night crawlers will not work for worm composting.

Items You Can Add To Your Worm Compost Bin Include.

1. All Fruits and Vegetables including peelings and etc.

2. Egg Shells.

3. Coffee grinds and filters.

4. Your used Tea Bags.

5. Grains, Breads, Crackers, And similar things.

6. Leafs and yard clippings.

7. Dead flowers.

Don't put items in your compost bin that have been treated with pesticides or you will kill your worms and stop the composting process. Don't add meat or animal products to your compost bin or you will create a very smelly compost bin that will be invaded by fly maggots.

Pests and rodents are attracted by meat and dairy waste. Rodents will cut into your compost bin if there is meat or dairy products in it. You will also have flies and maggots. So keep meat and dairy products out of your compost bin.

Be Careful Your Worms Don't Escape

The worst thing you can have happen is for your worms to escape and leave. Any holes you put in the bottom of your compost bin must be covered by fine screen wire to keep the worms in. Worms generally stay in the bin with no problems but they may try to leave when they are first put in the bin or when its real humid and damp outside. If your lid is on tight and you have screen wire over your drainage holes your worms can't get out.

Simple Compost Bin.

Composting Tips

1. Put your compost bin out in the sun so it will get extra heat and help the composting along. Have it somewhere sort of out of the way at the back of your yard or behind your garden.

2. Stir your compost bin with a large stick at least once weekly to make sure every part of the compost bin is getting in on the composting and to insure air gets to all parts of your compost bin.

3. Never put human or animal manure into your compost bin.

4. Don't worry about those other bugs or insects in your worm bin or compost bin. They are thee to help the process along.

At Home: Composting with red wigglers

How To Build A Compost Bin Quickly And Easily

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