How do I build a compost bin outside?

Question

How do I build a compost bin outside?

Answer 1

If you live in the city and don't have much of a garden, an alternative to a compost bin may be to try worm composting. This is not only a good way to get rid of your organic waste, but is also great fun! (Well, if you like worms that is!)

The advantages is that the composting is completely contained, so even if you don't have an open soil/grass surface (say if you only have a concrete back yard, like me) you can compost.

You can buy special worm composting containers, but I have found that large flower pots (with holes in the bottom) placed in an outer pot (without holes) of the same size, works just as well.

The reason for having an outer pot of the same size as the inner one is that this will cause the inner pot to "hang" over the edge of the outer pot, leaving a gap near the bottom where liquid will collect.

Next, put some bedding in the inner pot, for example shredded newspaper. Place your worms on this and add food waste. (There are several companies selling worms, or you can dig up your own - but ideally you'll want the surface living type, not the deep burrowing earth worms you are likely to find in a park or woodland.)

Stick some sort of lid on top or your worms will crawl out of the pot (i use some slate or an old plate on mine) and let the worms get to work.

I use several pots on rotation so that worms can continue to work in the full ones.

The messiest part is when the compost is ready and you need to separate out the worms from the compost to re-use them in the next batch!

You can use the finished compost as a soil improver and fertiliser for plants, and the liquid (diluted) can also be used as a fertiliser.

Answer 2

I love you.. Save egg shells, Coffey grains, and your pee. (LOL the last one was a joke) put it into a wood box and than when you have enough buy worms to live in it..

Answer 3

I live on a farm.  You don't actually need a bin....you can just have a pile of compost.  

Chances are you do not generate the amount of compost we do, AND you have more neighborhood animals.

Do you have a pickup truck?  Drive about and find a stack of wood pallets.  A really fantastick place to get wood pallets are roofing and fencing companies.  The pallets they recieve are heavy duty.  Stay away from places like WalMart and Coca-Cola, places like that....they recycle their pallets, and they are marked Property OF.

Get three pallets if you want a three sided compost bin....easy to stick a shovel into.  Four pallets if you want a four sided compost bin to keep your dog or children out.  Five pallets if you want to add a top, to keep raccoon, birds, cats, ect out.

Now just Google "pallet compost bins, and look at the many web sites.  They range from very fancy, to ultra simple.  Hint...wire the sides together....it's easy, fast and cheap.  Best of all, if needed, you can cut the wire, and take the bin completely appart to get at the compost.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 4

well i wouldn't recommend making one inside!! haha. blooming h**l all you need to do is look it up with google etc. there is loads of sites that tell you how to make a compost bin etc. Why ask here, I don't understand this place sometimes...

Anyway a better place to look is here...

http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/...

Answer 5

Sometimes it may sound like composting is difficult, but the truth is, you couldn't stop stuff from decomposing if you tried... and that's a good thing!  :)

A good compost bin or pile will decompose items quickly.  A poor one will still decompose items but slowly.  You don't want a compost to send smelly air downwind to your house on a hot day.  And you don't want it to attract animals by putting meat into it.

After using fencing for a compost for a couple of seasons i purchased a commercial compost bin.  You can get them at garden centers.  Mine is black to improve solar gain, vented, has a lid (prevents animals from getting in) and the most lovely part.... a trap door at the bottom so you can pull out all the rich, finished compost to spread around your garden beds without having to muck about.  The bin decomposes things much faster than a handmade bin will, also.  For me, it changed the process from basically having a medieval "middens" to being able to use the compost soil conveniently.  My garden now benefits!

I keep a plastic bucket with a lid under my kitchen sink... for this i use a gallon ice cream tub with a lid and handle!  When i or anyone in my house chops vegetables, peels an orange, etc, we put it in the compost bucket.  Once a day usually after supper, someone takes it out and dumps it into the compost bin.  

Into my compost i put mostly vegetable and fruit parts, pasta water sometimes, spoiled food, yes... i put in sour milk... but then the bin prevents my having trouble with animals.  Citurs rinds and cantaloupe rinds surprisingly break down quite well.  And when i garden i may put in healthy leaves.  Once in a while i'll put in ashes... though not all the ashes because that would unbalance the nutrients of the compost.

What i've found i DON'T want in the compost are:

meat and bones

kitty litter (even if you use clay litter, this would create a health hazard)

nut shells (don't break down for years)

those little sticky labels they put on fruits (watch out for them)

look out for accidentally dumping in plastic wrappers (happens more often than you might think)

sticks (don't break down quickly enough)

any parts of pine trees (don't break down quickly)

diseased or unwanted plants from your yard