A very effective and cost effective bin is a 12 x 3 ft. piece of 1/2 inch hardware cloth. That's screen material sold in 25 ft rolls, 3 ft. tall. Form a cylinder by tie-wrapping the ends together. Scrap pallets can often be obtained free. Wire four of them together for a nice bin. To look at mine, click on my name. Bill Hill

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardenweb Compost FAQs

The Faq's here have details on several different types of composting containers. And then there is always just the good old "pile" or the "pallet bin" that work great.

And a search here using 'compost bin' pulls up all sorts of discussions on how to convert plastic and metal trash cans into composting containers.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Trash cans for composting

The hardware cloth, about 1.52 per foot is more expensive than 2 x 4 vinyl covered welded wire, about .98 per foot. The advantage to hardware cloth is the you can often buy what you need while most places that sell the 2 x 4 WW fabric sell it in 50 foot rolls.

Thank you all. This forum is so informative if I had time to read for days.

Carla

You might also want to check with your city, county, or township to see if they sell bins at reduced price. Many do, but not all.

Karen

My own seven mesh bin compost piles are made of 1/4" mesh hardware cloth, 24" high, last was about $15 for thirteen feet. The 1/2" mesh is OK too, a bit more material falls out thru the mesh.

But the poster indicated a desire to get rid of the leaves more than wishing for a proper compost pile. Maybe a bin for leaf mold would be more approciate. If I were going for leaf mold with my shredded leaves, I might go for a 6" to 12" high row against one of the fences.

I made about 6 bins from vinyl cover fence someone tossed out. Both the hardware cloth and fence type bins have ventilation completely around the bin, which is great.

The 1/2in. hardware cloth will help to keep rodents out if you build a cover, preferably from hardware cloth.

In case you've forgotten your high school math Pi times diameter equals perimeter. So 3.14 or we can use 3*4=12ft of fence needed to make a bin 4ft in diameter. Certainly you can go bigger but I wouldn't go smaller than 3ft. in diameter or higher than 3ft.

Don't forget you will have to lift up over the fence many times. I don't turn mine, I just leave it for next year.

HTH

PALLET BIN
IALBTC

I appreciate all the responses.
Quick question: I'm planning to use rotted leaves with kitchen scraps. I feel this is acceptable to add to my garden for something extra. I have very limited knowledge of compost. Somewhere I read to add a bit of sugar to help speed things up.
Is there anything else I could do that is simple to make this acceptable for the garden?

Thank you,
Carla

Hey carla, what are you doing here :)

I've been using chopped leaves as mulch. I use a shredder vac and then keep the leaves in bags for the winter, then I put them on top around my roses and other plants. You could also add them to a compost pile to break down further. I don't use anything, I just make a pile under some trees and turn it once in awhile. I add all my rose clippings too. I did get some very nice compost last year and it looks like I have some this year too. I just have to go out and collect it.

Buford, basically trying to decide what to do with all my leaves and kitchen scraps. I have been saving things in a closed trash can so it should be really rotten by now! Yes, I have lots of decayed leaves too, just need to get those newer ones situated.

Carla

Hey Carla,
In a combination of what others have written above, you could get some pallets (some businesses want to get rid of them!) and then tack/staple hardwire clothe onto the sides.
I just made up my own frames and put hardwire clothe on them. On the front side I made the frame with a hinge so it could fold in half, making it easier to turn the pile. Right now my pile is full, so the front is closed up.
I shred my leaves with my lawnmower, bag 'em, save em' for when I'm ready to start my next pile(space is very limited). To get a pile high, I will put in maybe 5 or 6 bags of leaves combined with a neighbor's grass clippings, put the right amount of water in, and let it go. About every two weeks I check it or turn it so it heats up again.
As the saying goes...practice makes perfect.
Have fun!!!

Kevin

I bought 50'X 4' chicken wire. I cut it into 13 ft. sections which gave me enough to make 3 fairly large compost bins for about 20 bucks.

It sounds like you have pretty good starting material. There's nothing "special" to put in to make it veggie garden worthy. Just whatever organic material you can find. The only trick is getting the right balance of C and N. The way to tell is if after a few days your pile doesn't heat up it needs more N, if it heats up but begins to smell then it needs more C.

Read the FAQs and old threads to figure out what can and cannot go in and whether they are consider C or N.

Happy composting!