By: Allan Wilson

Composting can be achieved in a simple compost pile. However, building a compost bin is an effective way to contain garden and kitchen waste. A Compost Bin also provides easy access to waste material for frequent turning. Further, Compost Bins help control heat and moisture content to speed up the composting process.

They come in various designs and can be commercially bought or assembled at home. Usually Compost Bins are made of plastic, metal, wood and wire.

Types:

There is a plethora of designs available. There are as many designs as your imagination allows. However, four main types of Bins are outlined below.

1. Worm Composting Bin: This bin relies on vermiculture to produce compost. This Wood Worm Composting Bin can be used year round to recycle kitchen wastes. It has the added advantage of working indoors.

2. Wires mesh Composting Bin: These are the least expensive to construct. Simply bend wire in a circle or square and dump yard waste in it. Turning waste is easy, and finished compost may be obtained within 6 months.

3. Portable Wood and Wire Composting Bin: This portable bin, where wire is tacked to a wooden frame is ideal for moderate volumes of compost. Turning waste is easy. Finished compost is available within 6 months to 2 years.

4. Wood and Wire Stationary 3 Bin System: This bin processes large amounts of waste in the shortest time period. It also doubles as a storage unit. But constructing this bin requires extensive carpentry skills

Obviously then there are many Compost Bin designs from the elementary one bin system to multi-compartment bins. The latter allow large amounts of material to be processed in batches. A multi-compartment bin holds piles in various stages of breakdown while permitting turning of the pile as it is transferred from one bin to another.

What Compost Bin design you prefer depends on your garden size, your waste output and your budget. The simple Wire Mesh Composting Bin is highly affordable and requires no skill sets to construct; therefore it is easily replicated in an average garden. Complex bins require more input in terms of labor and material. What you ultimately choose depends on your personal preferences.

Building a Compost Bin – A Simple Guide

A compost heap should be a mandatory feature in every garden. What the compost heap does is turn everyday household and garden waste into organic fertilizer. This is achieved through the action of bacteria and fungi which decompose waste. Commercial Compost Bins can be purchased at any Garden store and they are usually made of stout gauge wire or have a wooden framework.

Most commercial Compost Bins have a removable side or hinges so that the heap can be filled or removed easily. If you don’t want to spend money simply opt for a compost heap or build a Compost Bin from inexpensive household products.

How to Make a Compost Bin:

Ideally a compost heap should be unobtrusively located. It should not be more than 3 ft. high and 3 ft. wide. It is also necessary that it be placed where it is not damp or shaded so that the organic material rots into a dark friable mass. If you want to make your own price-conscious Compost Bin, you can use old sheets of corrugated iron or timber.

Use 4 corner posts, 4 ft long to be inserted in the ground. The sides are made of 3 ft lengths of timber, 3 inches wide and at least 1 inch thick. Six will be required for each side making a total of 24 pieces. They are spaced approximately 4 inches apart and screwed into the corner posts.

To provide for removable side, one set of side pieces 3 cm less in length than the others are screwed to two separate corner rails 2-5 inches wide and 1 inch thick. The complete unit slides into two of the fixed corner posts in a groove or channel made from two 3 ft pieces of timber spaced from the two fixed corner posts by two thin strips of wood 1one and quarter inch thick and 1 inch wide. All timber must be treated against rot.

To reiterate, it is easier to make a compost heap. Even though it may look ugly or untidy, a compost heap is the least expensive and the least labor-intensive option.

By: Julie Williams

If your attempts at composting seem to take forever to break down to a useable product, try building your next compost heap with straw bale. Remember to get organic straw bales if you have an organic garden.

The idea is to use bales of (organic) straw as the external structure of your compost heap – it will hold your composting ingredients. The straw bales allow air to flow through your heap and because they are organic material themselves they contribute to the heating up process of the heap. Eventually you can use them as ingredients in a future compost heap.

Step – by – Step

1. Wheat or pea straw are the best types of bales for composting. Start by building one compost pile, then if you have the space you can create a row of composting “bins”. Build the structure two bales high, with three sides, covering your joins with the second row for strength. Leave the front section open and have the working area about 1.5m square.

2. Layer organic materials directly on the bare soil base. Build with alternate layers of nitrogen rich materials such as animal manures, grass clippings, comfrey or yarrow and high carbon materials such as kitchen scraps, straw, shredded paper etc.

3. To allow better air flow you need to place a pvc pipe into the middle of your heap, on an angle as you build. Your heap will start to compact with the breaking down process. You can jiggle the pipe every week or two, to let in more air, then remove it after about four weeks.

4. Continue layering ingredients around the pipe. Make sure you water each layer (unless it is really wet already) as you go to help speed up the composting process. Always include as much variety of ingredients as possible for an excellent final product, including generous amounts of animal manures.

5. When your layers have reached the top of your straw bale structure, cover the whole thing with biscuits (small sections of a bale) of straw. This will further help retain heap which give you a fast-burning heap. Give it another good watering.

6. To generate more heat enclose the front of your structure with more bales. Water twice a week during dry or windy weather. When the ingredients start to collapse (about four weeks) you can remove the pipe.

You can quickly create compost that will enrich your soil, improving the health and vigour of you plants.

7th Avenue Vagrant Chaser asked:


I just got done tearing up a lot of Bermuda. Using a till, I turned the soil prior to removing the grass (making room for a garden), so the root systems are still perfectly intact.

Can I throw the lot into my compost pile; or will the grass take root, thus beginning a relentless surge of Bermuda consuming my compost?

Thank You.

By: MIKE SELVON

Certainly there is a good deal of discussion and concern nowadays about organic products and also about defining the meaning of the term organic waste. Essentially, it is the byproduct of any material that is biological in origin. Common types of such waste includes virtually all paper products, including newspapers and cardboard; food waste; green waste material which encompasses yard and garden waste; animal manure and feces; and various biosolids and sludge components.

The process that organic matter goes through to become waste is called composting. The composting process breaks down the microorganisms in the organic material through a combination of exposure to heat, moisture, oxygen and bacteria. Once this organic material has passed through this decomposing process, it can be reused as a very effective soil additive.

In many ways, organic waste is a valuable part of the process of life on this planet. In essence, composting of organic materials is the original, and most effective form of recycling, invented and perfected by Mother Nature herself.

Once organic materials are gathered together in a compost pile, the microorganisms rapidly increase in number and essentially grow into a community that “colonizes” the composter. Through the natural biological functions of the microorganisms, the organic components are systematically broken down and the result is a nutrient rich compost.

As the bacterial microorganisms grow, they assimilate the starches, sugars and organic acids found in the waste matter. A side effect of their activity is a rise in the temperature in the center-most portion of the compost heap. Eventually, the temperature of the core of the compost pile will reach more than 140 degrees Fahrenheit and this heat contributes to the escalating decomposition of the material.

When the busy bacteria have consumed all of the sugars and starches and other materials they feast upon, the interior temperature of the compost heap begins to fall. As the temperatures become lower, other kinds of microorganisms, such as fungi, become more dominant in the composting community. At this stage the waste is considered to be stabilizing but there are still biological activities going on which will affect the woody elements of the compost mixture, allowing them to be broken down as well.

In order to continue through the composting process, the compost heap needs to be turned. This is a simple process that brings the material that is on the edges of the heap into the center so that it can be exposed to this process of heating as described above. It is recommended to allow the compost pile to sit undisturbed for approximately two weeks between turnings.

A compost heap can continue to grow by adding additional organic waste at any time. The compost pile simply needs to be turned at regular intervals of about every other week and the decomposition process will continue. In four to six months the composting process will have done its work and the compost can be mixed in with the soil as a very effective fertilizer.

Joe v asked:


But I’m afraid the seeds will come alive sometime in the future when I use the compost.
I want to compost cause I hate throwing out, to the town, all the green weed vegitation that’s been sucking my soil of its nutrients.

Any drawbacks to composting the weeds?
Any worries I should consider?