Would it be possitle to alter the design of your new bins to include wire [or slats?] sides as part of the back or side or top not seen from the street? ....

Air penetration into a compost bin is not very deep. Home composting needs to be more concerned with allowing water vapour to escape than aeration. So some gaps between the boards are needed for moisture to escape.

I prefer stand alone bins. This allows bins to be added or removed independently. In order for the bin to stand alone, it needs a floor. Having the floor off the ground does improve aeration as well as keeping out rats and other burrowing rodents. Adding a lid will keep out everthing except mice and bears.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wooden compost bin

Hi y'all, thanks for the feedback.

borderbarb-

I could certainly use wire mesh of some sort for the back and, perhaps, one side, which would increase the aeration and not be visible or unsightly.

cowgirl2-

Where in AB are you from? My wife is a transplanted (get it? It's a gardening joke!!) Calgarian.

I have seen the webpage for that design in another thread somewhere in here, perhaps posted by you.

The spot where this new bin will go is basically the only place in our yard for it, so two smaller dimension stand alones would just stand alone next to each other. We have not ever had problems with varmints with our chicken wire hoop. Not sure rats would ever be a problem and we don't have much in the way of burrowers in our urban residential neighborhood. Additionally, the ingredients are a mix of last fall's leaves, this year's grass clippings, and kitchen wastes, with some additional cardboard, paper, cat hair, and what not, so the food component is pretty diluted.

I think I could work in gaps in the front and visible side and center divider pretty easily with the design I have for removable slats for the front and the center divider. Other than not having a varmint problem, I have read that giving the soil biota access to the compost pile is a good thing...Are the floors in your design just structural and/or anti-critter, or is there more to it than that?

Thanks again both of you!

4 x 4 x 4 is a dandy pile. Side by side is functional and reasonably attractive. If you need to have closed back and ends you could throw into your system a couple pieces of 4" sewer and drain pipe with holes. That would let in the air from the front of your piles. Four pieces in the pile would be fine.

My curreent compost bins are built against the concrete block side of the yard tool shed with cedar boards making up two of the other sides, placed right next to each other with no gaps and aeration has not been a problem in the 8 years I've been using these bins. This is two 4 x 4 x 4 bins right next to each other. Prior to that I had stacked concrete blocks making up two 4 x 4 x 4 bins and had no problem with aeration. Where I have seen problems with aeration is when to compost material is made too wet.

Here is a nice looking double wooden bin. (not mine)

Lloyd

Hi Lloyd,

That is pretty close to what I am thinking about. The only differences are that the right side in that view would be wood slats, the center divider will be slats also for easy turning from one bin into the other if space allows, it will have a lid on hinges (maybe one for each side), and, finally, the details of the construction. Planning on doing this next weekend, weather permitting, so I am getting down to it with design.

David

Sounds good to me David. Do you 'hot' compost or just basic? Hot would benefit from increased aeration but if you're turning occasionally I think you'll be just fine.

Take pics for us.

Lloyd

In this case and for most folks more time in the pile is not a major issue. Maximum aeration helps the pile converge into compost as fast as is possible. Less aeration simply takes more time to get from point A to point B.

The fastest pile I ever witnessed had no sides or ends. It had sewer and drain pipe set like chimneys in the pile. It was never turned. This pile made nearly perfect compost in six or seven weeks. It was a round pile peaked to a point in the center at about four feet.

Best I could tell by talking with the creator was that there was nothing special about the pile.....except maybe he did say he used a sprinkle of native garden soil as he added each layer. More gardeners should do this.

Hi again Lloyd (and all),

I kind of do a rolling hot compost, at least as time permits. Man do I love composting. My wife and many of our friends think I am crazy, perhaps even wacko.

Here is my approach using the chicken wire hoop, starting in the spring...I will probably do something like this with my new bins, but I will have to see how it goes. Let me know what y'all think.

Once the pile is thawed and more or less drained, I take off and set aside the top half or so, which includes the last clean up from fall and fall and early winter kitchen scraps (next winter we start a worm bin for when our pile is frozen!). Next I screen the bottom half, which is the oldest material from last summer. I set aside the coarse material and add the fines to my square foot raised beds, the herb bed, and anywhere else if I have enough. Now the material that was the top half goes back in the bin and the coarse material from what was the bottom half goes on top. I will water all of this as I stack and will usually mix in some of the chopped leaves from last fall.

Now starts the rolling warm composting. Over the course of the spring and summer, as I mow the lawn, I mix and dampen each bag of clippings with shredded leaves from last fall in a wheel barrow and then stack onto the pile. Turns out the angle of repose of a damp grass-shredded leaf mix is quite steep and I can stack it well above the chicken wire! This heats up pretty well and helps the first addition of this material helps the coarse material below heat up too. New kitchen scraps and UCGs are tucked into this every few days with a garden fork.

Usually after a week or so of cooking, I will tear off the top half (gras-leaf mixture and coarse material underneath, mix thoroughly, dampen if necessary, and repile. I also do this tear down and mix on successive additions of grass clippings and shredded leaves, and the fresh materials will heat up the whole mixture again. I repeat this for each grass mowing until the last mowing of the season.

Before the last mowing, I take off the top third or so of the pile and set it aside, screen all of the remaining material down to the bottom, then mix the coarse material back with the top third that was set aside and any waster from the yard (morning glory vines, lily stalks, veggie garden residue) and let it sit until the next spring. We continue to tuck in kitchen scraps and UCGs until the pile freezes and the snow is too deep for easy access and wait for spring!

This approach yield about two 40 gallon garbage cans of compost each year. Given that the amount of material we can compost won't change too much (maybe more leaves if I hit up one of my students for his in the fall), I will probably use this same routine with the new bins.

Did I mention that I love composting?

With the new bin I am going to build, we probably could just add winter kitchen scraps on top until the spring as it will have a lid and greater capacity than the current hoop, but instead I am going to start a worm bin in the basement in the mid-fall to take our kitchen scraps over the winter. Then we can add the castings to the mix in our raised beds and to the herb beds!

Next weekend is the beginning for this year! Build compost bin, screen and transfer compost, prep beds, plant cool season crops (peas, lettuces, spinach, kale, collards, arugula, rapini, carrots, potatoes in a bin tower-which is new this year), wait for average last frost in mid-May to plant the rest (tomatoes, beans, peppers, zucchini, egglplant, herbs). Man am I ready!

David

Perfect! There is nothing I would change in your procedure. Good on you!

Where in MN are you, we're practically neighbors!

Lloyd

I have been using this wood compost bin for over 5 years with excellent results. I use a screen top on it Apr - Nov and a piece of plywood during snow season.

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1" x 6" pine 60 feet (10 6-foot boards)
2" x 2" pine 10 feet
2" #10 wood screw 80
Cut 1" x 6" boards into 20 36" segments
Cut 2" x 2" boards into 20 6" segments

To avoid splitting the 2x2's, pre-drill two holes in each of two faces of the

segment, so that there are a total of 3 holes in each segment. Next, using the wood

screws, attach one 2x2 segment flush with the end of one 1x6 segment, 1" from the

top of the board. When done, the 2x2 segment should overhang the bottom of the

board by 1 ", and be flush with the end of the board. Continue this until all boards

have 2x2 segments attached in a similar manner.

When done, attach four boards together as in figure 1, so that you end up with a

36" square layer which rests on the four 2x2 posts. Continue this until you have all

five layers done. All layers should then stack on top of each other. Finally, to

prolong the life of the bin, treat all the layers with two coats of ThompsonÂs

waterseal. When finished, you should end up with a five-layer bin which is 31" high,

36" square, resting on 1 ½ " legs, with ½" between each layer (See figure 2).

Lloyd,

I am in South Minneapolis, which is why location options and ingredient production for the bin are somewhat limited. It is an urban residential neighborhood with mixed single family and low density just a couple miles south of downtown. We have a large corner lot and are working all around the yard. For me, gardening is about the journey, with seasonal stops for home grown food; for my wife, it is about instant gratification, which is why she loves the herb garden!

Hi iowa50126,

I suppose you are just down the road a bit from me based on your user name. Your design is great and simple! That is basically what I am going to do for a couple potato bins this year (first time) at 2'x2'with the front left corner connected with hinges and the front right a couple eye hooks so each level can be opened for removing growing medium and potatoes at harvest.

For my compost bin, I want to be able to open the front and the middle divider for turning, mixing, and removing compost, so I am not going to go with stackable design. That is not to say that it is not a great design! Simple, elegant, and cheaper for materials than what I am gonna end up with!