How to Build a Compost Container

Simple Compost Container

If you are like most homeowners, you take out the trash each week and wonder why you are paying someone to take away good garbage that could be composted into valuable garden dirt. Compost makers can be costly, but not if you make one yourself. Here are a few ideas to make it clear how simply you could have a working compost bin in your backyard.

Things You'll Need

• Eight 8-foot landscaping ties Circular saw

Instructions

1. Choose an area in your backyard that gets about 6 hours of sunlight a day. The compost does best with a combination of sunlight and shade, although it can survive in either extreme. Of more concern is keeping it out of sight of your neighbors. It shouldn't smell but it can look a little rough, especially when the egg shells and banana peels are hanging out on top of it.

2. Cut your landscape ties in half using the circular saw. This will result in 16 4-foot sections of tie.

3. Stack your ties in the fashion shown in the illustration above: two facing north/south, laid about 3 1/2 feet apart, with two facing east/west laid on top of the north/south pair about 3 1/2 feet apart. Stack the rest of the ties in this fashion until you have a box as shown in the illustration above and have used all 16 sections of tie. Each side should be stacked 4 tall. There is no need to secure the sides. After a few months, you will be taking them down to remove the finished compost, and their weight holds them in place.

4. Add your kitchen scraps, your leaves, lawn clippings, weeds and other organic matter. It's best to avoid things like crabgrass (the heat from the compost may not be enough to kills its pesky seeds) and meat and bones (animals will be attracted).
   After a few months, not only will you be carrying out a lot less trash to the street but you will have rich and dark soil at the bottom of the pile. Whatever has not composted, just set aside and let finish off with new scraps.

5. Keep adding to your pile. It will fill up and then shrink down as the material decomposes. If you go through several weeks of dry weather, add a good soaking from your garden hose to heat things back up again. Most materials will not decompose until there is a pile almost 3 feet high. Alternate kitchen scraps with yard waste to keep good nitrogen to carbon ratios.

Resources

• EPA Waste Resource Conservation - Basic Information | Composting