Comments on: Building a compost bin

By: glblguy

glblguy — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:23:18 +0000

Chuck, no they don’t, but the advantage of floor is that it keeps the compost dryer and allows more air to circulate into the pile. Good air circulation is critical to the composting process.

Worms are great, but if I wanted worms I use a vermicomposting bin. I am considering one of those as well.

I have lots of ants, do those count? Seriously, from everything I’ve read, having ants is good sign.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:03:59 +0000

Sorry for the error: Do worms still find “their” way into the pile?

By: Chuck

Chuck — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:54:20 +0000

The Lowes design has a floor. Do worms still find there way into the pile? I understand that worms help the composting process.

By: Gravity Gardener

Gravity Gardener — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 19:46:59 +0000

Good info.. I find it pretty easy to compost once you are in the mindset that a lot of the fruit and vegetables you discard could easily be added to a compost box.

I created my compost bin from discarded 3×3 pallets. They worked out pretty well.

If anyone is interested, I added the steps and pictures of the process.
http://gravitygarden.com/bucketgarden/?p=552

Happy Composting!

By: Heidi

Heidi — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:24:12 +0000

Your bin is beautiful! If your turn your pile once a month you will get great soil in about 6 months. BUT you can actually speed up the process by turning the pile more often. Geek factor alert: if you monitor the temperature of your pile you will notice that it hits it’s peak after a few days, then goes down slowly from there. If you turn your pile when the temperature starts to go down you can speed up the decomposition considerably. Each time you turn the pile it will peak again — that is when the rapid decomposition takes place. I have found that turning every 5-7 days is ideal in my area (realistically it gets done once a week at my house.) At once a week our compost is done in 6 weeks. Another benefit of keeping the temperature up is it “cooks” the seeds that may get in there and you don’t get unwanteds sprouting in your garden.

By: Bridgette

Bridgette — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:19:13 +0000

Thanks for reminding me that I have a garage bag full of shredded paper. I’ll have to retrieve it and use it in my compost!

By: Clay Wllmsn

Clay Wllmsn — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:50:05 +0000

Some blogs ago, I posted other uses to recycle paper shreds. Do you have a preference on using a strip cut shredder or a crosscut paper shredder? I only use crosscut as it shreds it finer.

By: Ken Oatman

Ken Oatman — Mon, 25 May 2009 01:22:40 +0000

I have a free solution.

Four wooden pallets. Tie together with wire coat hangers.

Mine’s been going great for ten years now.

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Sun, 24 May 2009 19:21:27 +0000

[...] Gather Little By Little teaches you how to build a compost bin [...]

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 24 May 2009 17:10:27 +0000

That’s a great looking compost bin. As a longtime composter, I’ve developed an excitement about the maturing compost that my friends think is geeky. May the omposting force be with you.

I’ve got one fairly important correction to your list of “greens” and “browns.” Things like coffee grounds, tea bags, and hay (not straw, but hay) are greens rather than browns. The “green” and “brown” refer to nitrogen content and not color. The balance you’re trying to achieve is a caron:nitrogen ratio. Coffee grounds are one of the higher nitrogen components. In fact, they can heat your compost pile up as much as manure. Hay is also a green, though maybe not as intense as fresh grass clippings.

Thanks for sharing your bin. I look forward to seeing your completed compost sifter.