DIY Composter Only A Mother Could Love | Construction and DIY projects | Forums

Now that we are gardening on a much larger level than before we really want to start growing our own soil. Our city has a great green bin program where food scraps (and a bunch of other stuff) are put out separately from waste and composted, after which the soil can be bought cheaply. We figured we'd cut out the middle man and start keeping all that bios mass on site.

I had some left over materials from my basement reno and decided to use them and throw together a quick composter. I recognize the wood will rot quickly, but I wanted to try out a design and also to see if we would be able to make it worth our while to compost onsite. We will be adding more square foot garden beds for next year, so if things go well on the compost front I will order some extra cedar at that time and make a proper composter. Consider this ugly duckling a proof of concept.

The bin is 3' square. I wanted to use chicken wire to keep animals out, but also to allow as much oxygen into the pile as possible. If we have issues with stuff falling out, or we cannot get up to temp, I will add some additional horizontal pieces.

I wanted the front to be removable so we would have easy access to turn the pile, as well as to get the finished product out.

Bin with front and top off.

Front in place. I may add one more horizontal beam here.

Lid about to go on.

With lid.

Added some extra wood to allow the top to open as if it was on a hinge.

I am going to get some hardware loop/hook latches to secure the front and top so nothing can get in. Something along the following lines, just not as pretty cause this bin is ugly!