How to build your own Wooden Compost Bin

Posted on 02. Jan, 2009 by Tracey in Making Compost

Materials Needed:
24 planks of Pallet timber (2 by 1) with notches cut out at each end,

Equipment Required:
Gloves, a small amount of time and labour.

Here’s how to build your own wooden compost bin:

1. Find a suitable location to site your compost bin.

Things to consider:

Compost requires some sun at anytime in the day to enable the contents to heat up.
Bins are quite unsightly and therefore are usually placed behind sheds or garages or bottom of the garden, however they can be hidden by trellis or brush/willow screens or they are available in beehive shapes which can be integrated into the garden.
It would be a good idea to locate your compost bin near your vegetable plot then the journey to add extra compost to your plots will be reduced and saves heavy lifting or moving of compost long distances.

2. Clear the area of weeds and obstructions.

Wooden compost bins need to be placed on soil so the worms can come up through it to your compost bin. If you haven’t got an area free on soil or cannot move soil into the area, then plastic compost bins are an alternative as they have rat proof bases.
Weeds need to be removed so you can have a clear area to construct the bin and so they don’t infect your bin before you have started.

3. Collect all your materials together and place the base out on the bare patch of soil.
Check all sides of the bin are not touching fences as they may rot as a result of poor air circulation around the bin. Also check you have access to at least one side of the bin for adding material and turning purposes.

4. Start adding the layers of wood and check the bin is sturdy.

5. Lightly fork over the soil at the bottom of the bin and add lining and drainage material.
If your wooden compost bin has large gaps in the sides you will need to line the inside of the bin with broken up cereal packets or newspaper to keep the heat in at the bottom of the heap.

Drainage material will need to be placed on the bottom of the compost bin to prevent the bin from becoming waterlogged.

Drainage materials are as follows:
Twigs, branches, scrunched up newspaper, loo rolls etc anything that will raise up the other material or create air pockets for the decomposition process to start and not get waterlogged.

6. Add your compost materials in a 50% green and 50% browns mix.
Everytime you add material to your compost bin make sure you have 50% of greens mixture and 50% of browns mixture. It you have any type leftover, save it until the next week’s additions.

7. Add a few trowels full of soil (old compost or garden soil) to add nutrients and organic mater to start the decomposition process.

8. Cover the compost bin with an old hessian sack, piece of carpet or boarding.

A compost cover has the following purposes:

It keeps in the heat needed to process the waste into compost,
It keeps out heavy rain to prevent all the plant nutrients being washed out and from your bin becoming smelly and slimey,
It keeps out cats, birds and weed seeds blown in by the wind.

9. Buy a compost crock to hold kitchen vegetable peelings and a storage bag for holding newspapers and cardboard.
For your own convenience so you don’t have to make a daily trip to your compost bin, invest in a compost crock or use an old plastic box (with a secure lid) which will hold a weeks worth of vegetable peelings and old vegetables. Also find a storage bag to collect your weeks worth of newspapers, loo rolls and cardboard.

10. Continue to add a 50% Greens/50% Browns mix daily or weekly to build up your compost.

11. And finally turn your compost heap with a garden fork every 6-9 weeks.
Turning your compost enables air (oxygen) to be put into your heap which helps quicken the decomposition process to help your waste turn into compost quicker.

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