How to Make a Pretty Compost Bin

Paint your way to a prettier compost bin.

Most people interested in using nutrient-rich compost to enrich their plants don't care about the visual appeal of their compost bins. Often constructed from wire or waste wood, compost bins typically have a dull, boring appearance that blends in with the surrounding landscape. However, since you have to add organic waste to your compost quite regularly, beautifying your bin provides an easy way to make your composting area brighter and more attractive for both you and your neighbors. Gather your paints and brushes, and get your creative juices flowing to convert an old garbage can into a pretty compost bin.

Things You'll Need

• Cylindrical plastic trash can
• Jigsaw with general-purpose blade
• Drill with 5/8-inch bit
• Permanent marker
• Craft paint (white)
• Craft paints (assortment of colors)
• Paintbrushes
• Stencils/foam stamps (optional)
• Acrylic sealer
• Shovel
• Carbon-rich organic waste
• Nitrogen-rich organic waste
• Water

Instructions

1. Find or purchase a cylindrical plastic garbage can with a tight-fitting lid. Look for a size that will be able to contain the amount of waste your household produces; typically, 45- and 30-gallon trash containers work well. If you opt to go with a used can, make sure the container has never had toxic chemicals in it, because they could potentially seep into your organic compost ingredients during the decomposition process.

2. Take off the lid and flip the garbage can upside-down on the ground. Remove the entire base of the garbage container with a jigsaw using a general-purpose blade. Use a 5/8-inch drill bit to make 20 to 30 holes across the sides of the trash container to provide ventilation for the compost.

3. Turn the trash container right side up. Use a permanent marker to draw a circle around the circumference of the trash container halfway up from the bottom. Paint the top half of the trash can and the trash can lid with white craft paint. Let the paint air-dry.

4. Paint a nature scene on the white background. Outline a thick brown line along the bottom edge of the white paint to provide the soil line for your nature scene. Use small paintbrushes with pointed bristles to create colorful grass, flowers, fruit or trees. If you dislike freehand artwork, use stencils or paint bright colors on foam stamps and press them onto the white background. Let the paint dry completely once you're satisfied with your nature painting.

5. Paint over the painted design evenly with acrylic sealer, coating it completely. Let the compost bin air-dry and repeat the sealer application two to three more times to seal the paint completely against the weather.

6. Dig a hole in the ground that matches the diameter of the trash can compost bin. Make the hole deep enough to contain the bottom half of the bin. Insert the bin into the hole in the ground, pushing it down until the bottom edge of your painting is approximately 1 inch above the ground.

7. Fill the compost bin with equal parts of carbon-rich (brown) organic waste and nitrogen-rich (green) organic waste. Moisten the organic waste until it is about as damp as a wrung-out sponge. Secure the lid on the decorative compost container and leave it for at least two months for the decomposing microorganisms to produce finished compost.

Tips & Warnings

• Prime examples of carbon-rich organic waste include dead leaves, straw, shredded newspaper and cardboard. Nitrogen-rich organic waste includes fruit and vegetable scraps, fresh grass clippings and coffee grounds.

• According to Yankee Magazine's book "Now That's Ingenious," a collection of household and garden tips, you can opt to plant flowering vines around the base of your compost bin if you'd like a more naturally attractive bin. The flowering vines will grow up around the bin and camouflage it. This works particularly well with compost bins made from wire because it provides the vines with an easy climbing framework.

References

• "Now That's Ingenious"; Yankee Magazine Editors; 2002
• University of Illinois Cooperative Extension: The Science of Composting
• "The Complete Compost Gardening Guide"; Barbara Pleasant & Deborah Martin; 2008