How to Make a Composting Barrel
Composting is one of the best ways to keep a garden healthy and maintained throughout the season. Used as an additive, fertilizer, or excellent mulch, compost adds vital nutrients to the soil and improves the garden with every application. Another feature to composting is the ease at which it can be done and the simplicity of the composter itself. With nothing but a barrel, a few supplies, and less than an hour, you can be ready to compost with the best of them and start feeding your garden what it deserves. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Old barrel, plastic is preferred
- Mild dish detergent, preferably organic
- Hammer
- Screwdriver
Instructions
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Creating your Composter
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1
Clean out your barrel with a mild soap. Excess residues and chemicals can be harmful to your compost and therefore your garden.
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2
Hammer four to six holes in the base of the barrel with the screwdriver acting as a large nail. Twist the screwdriver around if you need to in order to create dime-size holes.
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3
Add additional holes on the body of the compost barrel. It is best if you do these in a circle around the barrel and come up in rings, leaving about six holes in the bottom third, middle and top third of the barrel.
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4
Set the barrel in your desired location. Choose somewhere that is in close proximity to your house and garden, yet somewhat out of sight.
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5
Fill your barrel with leaves, grass, twigs and kitchen scraps, and don't forget to add water. Try to create layers in the early stages where sticks keep air trapped in the compost and kitchen materials are well-covered under grass, leaves or even shredded bills.
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6
Begin a routine of turning the compost once or twice a week. This can be done with a simple shovel or pitchfork to keep material from settling or becoming starved of oxygen.
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Tips & Warnings
For even easier composting, you may want to remove the base entirely. Stop adding material once the composter is full of kitchen scraps and debris. Focus now on turning the compost regularly. When all of the material has been broken down, all you have to do is lift the barrel for easy access to your new rich soil. If desired, use the barrel lid to keep critters out and heat in. If your barrel doesn't have one, a simple lid can be made of an oversized circle cut out of plywood.
Keep meats, oils and dairy items out of the composter as well as domestic animal feces. All of these can cause odors, which attract wildlife. The peels of commercially grown citrus fruits should also be avoided because these may contain chemical sprays that could be harmful to your plants.
