Ok- so this is a project I’ve been wanting to do for years! And we made it in 4 hours. Tell me why again I put stuff off- lol! I guess the reason is that building a diy compost bin isn’t a pretty or glamorous project. But it’s much better than having compost piles all over our garden!
Before we moved into this house, we owned our condo for 9 years and rented in Florida for 5 months. Which meant that we didn’t have a backyard before we lived here. So when were preparing to move in and dream of all the things we could do with this place, composting was on the list!
I told three year old Don about composting and showed him a video about the environmental impacts. And he started crying- he loves the earth so much, bless his heart! If you remember, he used to be into a major phase of loving garbage trucks. Not. because he loves trash, but because he hates it 😂. So, as you can see, this was a long time in the making.
what is composting?
Composting is when organic matter (like kitchen scraps) are disposed of with other yard scraps (leaves, grass, twigs) and then decomposes. This makes what looks like dirt- but it really is a nutrient rich product that can be used to fertilize plants, it helps poor soil so it can better grow things, and the dirt (called humus) is superior at retaining water.
why compost?
First of all, it’s so good for your yard! It enriches the soil while also reducing the need for chemical fertilizers.
Second, composting keeps food out of the landfill. When food is thrown away, it breaks down and produces methane gas. This can lead to climate change. Plus, most food at the landfill isn’t reused for dirt (it just adds to the mountain of garbage).
When composting, food breaks down and doesn’t produce methane since it’s in an oxygenated environment.
what can I compost?
Brown (carbon rich)-
- Dry leaves
- Hay and Straw
- Pine Needles
- Pine Cones
- Shrub Prunings
- Chopped Trees
- Twigs and Branches
- Wood and Paper Ash
- Brown Paper Bags
- Corn Cobs, Corn Stalks
- Eggshells
- Sawdust
- Cardboard
- Paper and Newspaper
Green (nitrogen rich)-
- Fresh leaves
- Kitchen waste
- Grass Clippings
- Weeds
- Flowers
- Seaweed and Kelp
- Barnyard Manure
- Coffee Grounds
- Coffee Filters
- Tea Bags
- Paper Towels
- Hair and Nail Clippings
Do Not Compost-
- Meat
- Bones
- Pet Waste
- Fish
- Walnuts
- Oil/Fat
- Grains
- Diseased Plants
- Dairy Products
The main reason to not compost meat and dairy products is that it’ll attract animals to the compost bin. Pet waste can carry parasites and diseases. Though barnyard manure or a rabbit’s droppings make rich compost. Avoid adding any materials that have been treated with pesticides or weed killers.
Make sure to chop or shred large items such as pumpkins or cardboard.
The goal is to have 1/3 of the bin green waste and 2/3 of the bin brown waste.
how to make a diy compost bin
SUPPLIES
- 1 Board 2″x4″x16′ $9.27
- 14 Cedar Fence Picket 6′ $42.98
- 4 Tee Hinges $13.10
- 1-2 Gate Handles $3.28 each
- Screws $9.97
Total- $78.60
cut list
Cut the 16′ board the the following lengths. This will be the frame for the diy compost bin.
- 4 pieces cut to 31 1/2″
- 2 pieces cut to 23 1/.4″
Cut the fence pickets to the following lengths. These will be the outside slats of the bin.
step 1
Start by building two sides of the compost bin. To do this, take the 31.5″ support beams and screw on the fence picket slats. Leave a gap of 1 1/8″ between each slat. Hint, cut a piece of fence picket to 1 1/8″ to create a spacer so you can get a uniform opening between the fence pickets.
You’ll get two pieces that look like this- a pallet. Ha! But if you do have a pallet, you could probably use that. Our compost bin is just under 3 feet square. Compost bins should be between 3-4 feet. This is so it’s large enough to retain the heat generated by decay and not so large that air can’t circulate through all the bin.
Composting happens when microorganisms cause decomposition at high temperatures and in the presence of oxygen. So building the bin at the right size is important.
step 2
Next, connect the two sides together by screwing on 5 pickets to the support beams. This will create the third side of the diy compost bin. Again, use spacers so that the pickets are evenly spaced. This makes a prettier bin. Here’s a picture of the inside of the third side finished-
step 3
And now, it’s time to complete the 4th side. This one is slightly more complicated. To make this one, begin the same as you did on the last step. Screw three pickets to the top of the bin.
At the bottom of the compost bin will be a hinged door to pull out the completed soil from. Or as Martha Stewart calls it- “brown gold.” That term totally cracks me up. It might be the immature 7th grader inside me.
Anyway, at the top of the bin, attach two support boards along the inside top. Once those are in, screw in two fence pickets flush to each other. The rest of the top will also be a hinged door. This is where the food waste and yard clippings will go in.
For our hinges and gate latch, I was thrilled to find some old hardware in my shed that I could reuse from an old door!
I gave them a quick spray paint so they’d all be gold. If I’d planned ahead, I would have soaked them in a crockpot overnight to remove the old paint.
step 4
Finally, for the last step, it’s time to build the hinged doors. For the top door, screw three or the 31.5″ fence pickets to two of the 18.5″ fence pickets. Then attach hinges to connect it to the bin.
For the bottom hinged door, screw three or the 31.5″ fence pickets to two of the 12″ fence pickets. Then attach hinges to connect it to the bin.
For the top door, I also attached a gate handle to easily open the bin. A handle can be attached to the bottom too. Or you can skip them (my husband thought it was a silly addition, but I like that it!). If you’re worried about animals getting in the bin (especially if you have raccoons around), add a gate latch to the bin. We don’t have critters like that, so we skipped that step.
FYI, we left the bin empty on the bottom- no wood is needed there.
And for the very last step, we applied Thompson’s Waterseal to the outside of all the boards. Paint would work too. Just as an FYI, you don’t want to paint or stain the inside of the boards. Why? That can leach chemicals into the soil so leaving them raw wood is best. Especially if you use wood meant to be outside.
after
Here’s the compost bin in its final resting place. In the corner of our yard. It’s still convenient to get to it, but it’s far enough from the house that we shouldn’t smell it.
how to put items in the bin
Inside the bottom of the bin, we laid a bed of twigs and branches. This allows for better air circulation from the bottom. And it makes it easier for bugs to crawl in and help with the decomposition of the compost. The branches will take longer to break down, so it’s a great foundation.
We then layered in green materials and brown matter. The goal is to have 1 part green to 2 parts brown for the perfect composting formula. After that, we poured in some water. Compost should be kept moist, but not sopping wet. This encourages rapid decomposition. If the items in the bin are too dry, it’ll take a long time for them to compost.
On the other hand, if it gets too wet, the contents in the bin will get smelly.
turning the pile
Use a pitchfork to turn the compost every 2-4 weeks. This will help the debris to break down more quickly. Waiting at least two weeks lets the middle of the pile heat up (which promotes bacteria to work on the decomposing).
You can also use a compost thermometer to see how hot the bin is. A large bin will get up to 160 degrees! This heat is good because it kills off weed seeds and plant pathogens. If the temperature falls below 90 degrees, it’s probably time to turn the pile again. On a cold winter day, a compost pile will give off steam as the raw material “cooks” down into compost!
OK! That was a lot of information about compost! But I hope it was helpful especially if you want to make your own bin! This was a 4-5 hour project and cost less than $80. And now we can make our own compost!
We used to just throw the kitchen scraps in the garden, so this’ll look much prettier. And now that we have the bin, we can compost things that used to get thrown away like shredded paper and cardboard! I’m pretty happy to have this diy compost bin finished up. Is this a project you’d take on?
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