Composting Bins
Photo courtesy Ciaran Mooney/Flickr
Here’s a funny story about our compost pile.
We don’t have an actual bin, although we intend to someday. We just have a pile.
We had some trees removed and asked the tree guys to chip them for us. My husband told them to leave the pile of chips at the edge of the woods next to the compost pile. We were out checking out the work after they left and I asked “where’s the compost pile?” Turns out they dumped the chips ON TOP OF the compost pile.
Oh well. We started a new pile and have been working our way through the pile of chips. We can’t wait to see the great compost that’s going to be waiting at the bottom for us.
Our new compost pile has one addition, which is a ring of hardware cloth running around the perimeter. That’s sort of like a bin.
It’s there because we came outside one day to find one of our dogs smack in the middle of the pile, happily munching away on all the table scrap snacks we had thoughtfully left out.
Now, for those of you who compost, what are you using as a compost bin?
January 3, 2013 - 10:20 AM
First off KH, I’ve never composted before so this will be my first attempt. Secondly, I can’t give advise on something I know nothing about. But this I know. My pile will be in a pallet enclosure. Now most all pallets are made 4′x 4′. However, they are not built the same. Depending on what will be stacked on them is the determining factor on construction. Heavier the load, the heavier the pallet. Mine are made for light materials loads and are roughly half the weight of others. Much easier to handle and move. Look for ones with thin slats since they are normally spaced closer together and should hold the compost better.
Composting is on my to-do list for 2013, as well. I got a lovely compost canister for the kitchen counter LAST year that is still in the box, so you see how motivated I have been!
Husband says he wants one of those plastic bins you buy at the hardware store because he doesn’t want an ugly pile of stuff in the yard. But I want to be able to turn it with a pitchfork and not run out of space. I thought about building a three-sided box out of cinder block, but don’t feel like buying and moving all that cinder block.
Does anybody have experience with the store bought bins?
Lindsey – the biggest drawback to the plastic ones from the hardware store is the size. You run out of space in those pretty quickly if you compost regularly. Otherwise, they work fine.
The compost canister I highly recommend, as long as it’s airtight so no smells escape, and it doesn’t attract fruit flies; and as long as it’s easy to clean. Having the canister in the cabinet under our sink is a very easy way to compost all of those veggie and fruit scraps. BTW, they make a canister liner that’s made from corn and is biodegradeable. You can line your canister, then throw the whole bag into the compost pile. Be careful you dump it and don’t try to life it out of the canister like a trash bag, because the bag will start to break down and the bottom might fall completely out if you lift it. Used the way it’s intended, it does a good job at helping to keep the canister clean and making emptying it much easier.
I throw all mine out behind my shed. Not very professional, but it works for me. My shed sits a few feet away from the fence for some reason so that space isn’t really usable. I put yard waste and also the ashes from my fireplace back there. Sometimes I put kitchen stuff back there if it’s not cold and/or raining outside. A lot easier than bagging all that stuff up when I cut flowers back in fall and clean up leaves. I should be more organized about it, but I don’t see that happening.
We just have 2 piles of compost out in the back yard, at the edge of the property. We dump grass clippings (when I run the grass catch on the mower anyway), leaves, shredded paper, fireplace ash, and kitchen scraps. I don’t do anything fancy, I just dump it into the pile, and ocasionally turn it. Seems to be working pretty well, from what I can tell.
Just read where NagsHead had their first frost this morning. 37*
Pallets propped up with cinderblocks worked okay for me a few years ago when I last made an orderly attempt to compost. I had 3 bins side by side against a cinderblock building and forked the whole stack from bin to bin as it needed turning.
Can veggie scraps, fruit scraps and such be saved and froze, then used later?
wd: veggie and fruit scraps – sure, it doesn’t matter if they were frozen. They can still go into the compost pile.
Back to the matter of adding fertilizer to a pile in the winter. Do you do it? If so, what mix?
wd: I’ve been looking into adding fertilizer to a compost pile, because I had never heard of doing it. I’ve come across a couple of references that say you can, but they don’t give any details. My thought is that I wouldn’t. I would just let nature take its course.
I’m assuming you really do mean fertilizer and not just an activator. You do need an activator, and soil is usually enough, but if your soil is deficient, that might be why someone would recommend adding fertlizer. I would add finished compost instead.
C= carbon. N= nitrogen. Brown is handy now. Green ain’t, therefore the need for a nitrogen source. Or so I have heard.
That makes sense, although I would never attempt a hot pile in the midde of winter, and don’t personally get too concerned about exact ratios of brown to green. Green will come in the form of food scraps, but that is usually in small quantities.
The small size of those plastic bins is exactly what worried me, Karen. Thanks for giving me some ammo for my discussion with hubby about why I need a real compost pile
The compost canister I have looks really nice. I believe it’s ceramic and it has a tightly fitting lid with a charcoal insert to absorb odors.