Composting at home is a great way to prepare your own soil and manage organic matter from your yard. It is a chore, so if you decide to do it, know that it’s not something you can just pile up and hope will come out perfect. The first step, of course, is having a good place to store your compost. There are tons of solutions out there that you can buy. And some of them I’d definitely recommend, especially if you’re composting food waste, I’ll list my favorites at the end. Most of these are too small to accommodate the organic matter our yard produces and we have a small yard. We have hundreds of rotten apples and pears, leaves and end of year veggie garden material, and this year we have tons and tons of grass. We’re remove a significant portion of our grass and replacing it with wood chips and mulch, and it’s too heavy to put in the city compost collection. This week, we were graced with a load of wood chips from my husband’s company (he’s an arborist and one of the crews had taken down some incense cedars), so we ended up, unexpectedly, with about 10 cubic yards of wood chips. Eek! So, Kyle started the work of removing grass much earlier than we expected and now we need a place to put the old grass and get it to decompose so it doesn’t grow somewhere else!
We headed off to the hardware store to buy a few supplies and an hour and a half later, we have one of the best compost bins I’ve ever seen. Good news is you could have one too!
Supplies
Materials:
2” contractor wood screws
20 3’ fence slats (cut from 10 6’ fence slats)
4 3’ 4x4s (any wood will do, don’t break the bank on these) - we actually had some lying around that I removed from our deck, so didn’t have to buy them. Ours are cedar and were previously stained, but there’s no need to stain them.
4 3’ 2x2s (same as above, we had these already)
4 2.5’ 2x2s
Tools:
Trigger clamps (helpful, but not required)
Mallet
Screwdriver
Drill
1. Cut fence slats
Do this first so you are ready to get these onto the sides of the bin. It’s also helpful to know at the beginning the dimensions so you know where you’ll put it. These should be 3’ in length. The nice thing about this project is you don’t have to be exact, which might allow you to work quicker.
2. Attach 2x2s to 4x4s
The 4x4s with the 2x2s going to the top will be the rear posts for the bin. Take one of your fence slats and place it between the 2x2s, use the trigger clamp to hold them in place (you want them to be tight!). Drill pilot holes and then screw your 2x2s in place, leaving enough room for the fence slat to be tightly placed between them. Repeat on the second rear 4x4. Then repeat again with the shorter 2x2s, make sure one end of the 2x2 is flush with the end of the 4x4. These shorter 2x2s will be the front posts, the flush ends will be on the bottom.
3. Attach the side fence slats
You will now screw the side fence slats to the posts. Lay down one rear post and one front post with the 2x2s on facing the ground. Lay your fence slats, (5-6 per side) on the posts with 1/4” or 1/2” space between each slat. This spacing is important for providing airflow to your composting material, the airflow, helps your compost breathe and decompose faster!
4. Attach rear and front slats
I did this by laying one side of the bin on the ground with the fence slats facing down. And then used a mallet to hammer the slats in on the front and the back. There are fewer slats for the front so it’s easier to access the material inside the bin. Once you have all the slats in (you may need help with this), fit the other side of the bin on top and hammer the slats in. To make sure it doesn’t fall apart, screw the top and bottom slats on the back of the bin in through the 2x2s.
5. Fill it with organic matter and start composting!
Composting isn’t too tricky, you can technically add any food scraps, but I’d recommend sticking to fruits and veggies. Meat needs to reach a certain temperature to properly break down and not be a health hazard. Add leaves, grass, old fruit and veggies, pieces you’ve cut off your veggies. Do not add cat litter or any animal or human feces.
Your compost bin needs to be placed somewhere where it can get sun at least part of the day. This helps it heat up and break down material more efficiently. You need to water your compost regularly and turn it. That’s why the front slats slide out! This will make it easier to get your fancy pitch fork in to turn it. If you don’t water AND turn it, you might end up with a bunch of volunteer tomatoes and avocados in there.