Compost bin - will norml bin do?

Hi all,

I've been looking at various compost bins to buy and the prices are pretty high considering they are essentially a plastic bin with a hole in the bottom. We were also thinking of making our own, but on visiting a timber yard and discussing what we'd need, we were told that the wood would have to be water-proofed blah blah and would cost about £40!
So I was thinking: could I just buy a normal big outdoor bin, cut a hole in the bottom, maybe line it with polythene....would that work do you think? And would I need to put a few holes in the top to allow air to circulate?
Any advice appreciated - I'm new to all this so will have trillions more questions. I also will post the before and during shots of our garden (jungle). Still a long way to go but it's coming along!

Thanks!

 

Check if your council are doing a special offer on Compost Bins:

http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/in_your_area/in_your_area.html

I got a couple of "Daleks" for £20 each

A compost bin is basically a rigid tube with a lid (i.e. no base). They don't have ventillation holes, although the door at the bottom to remove the compost is loose fitting and lets some air in, as does the lid I expect.

Only other thing is that it is cone shaped so you can lift it off the heap completely, if you want to, but that isn't too important

The doors at the bottom s are a waste of time IME, don't know why they bother - just a gimic!

 

WAterproofed?


A pallet compost bin-


http://www.instructables.com/id/Pallet_Compost_Bin/

 

Thanks for your replies! Kristen, thanks for the link, my council are doing 2 bins for 1, so that sounds pefect! I hadn't realised they provided compost bins.

That pallet compost bin link has a lot of gaps in the sides though, so that seems to go against what the other websites say about no holes...?

 

Holes is fine - although best that they are only 5% of the space or so.

But the Daleks have no specific air gaps - so maybe its not important either way.

If you exclude ALL air you will get aerobic composting - which is the slimy mess that a heap of just grass clipping makes, and you definitely want to avoid that!

So either way is fine I reckon. I had good intentions of making some nice large bins out of wood - and then I saw the Council Offer, got two bins last year, and am unlikely to build my smart wooden bins at all now, I reckon!

 

Thanks for explaining - you've been really helpful!

 

The dalek bins don't have air gaps and that's why it is essential get the mix of green and brown right. On a side note, I have two of them and ran out of room in them so now just have an old fashioned compost heap aswell. It is interesting to note that the heap is full of worms whilst the two bins seem not to have as many in-and the heap is rotting down much faster than the bins yet it was started later. Any suggestions Kristen as to why that might be?

 

My Daleks get pretty hot - I think the dark colour helps heat them up from the sun, which will help get the bugs going.

But come Winter your "old fashioned heap" may be warmer / better insulated?

I reckon the site of worms means that the heap is in the final stages of composting - it should be too hot for them when the heap is active (stick a stick in and it should come out steaming and feeling hot)

Your "old fashioned heap" may have more optimal dimensions too. "3', or 1M in new money, square" was what I was brought up with. The Daleks are not that big, although being round they compensate by not t having any cold-corners

 

You're right, it is much wider and seems to get shorter in height by the day-which can only mean one thing-good stuff for the peonies and roses in Autumn.


It's amazing how obsessed you can become with the state of your compost heap.


I saw a thread on here last year where someone used an chopped down leylandii to make up some sides for a heap-I (if I can raise the cash for someone to lop it down for me) will be copying that this year and giving the daleks away to the community centre next door.


The other possibilty is that the heap is less compacted, and it gets rained on, although it is currently hiding behind and under said leyllandii.


(STick a stick in? I have been elbow deep in it's bounty, and it is very very warm, even hot.)

 

"It's amazing how obsessed you can become with the state of your compost heap."

:thumb:

 

I add kitchen scraps to my black, communittee sold bin all winter where it freezes. About the middle of March I know spring will arrive p.d.q. because the lid begins to be displaced with frozen compost. Once it starts to melt it's a moist horrid pit of 'stuff' so I turn the compost pile I built the previous fall (that's the big old pile of everything that's not contained) and add to it all the stuff from the black plastic composter (that stuff smells so bad you can't imagine at this stage).

When the compost has started to heat up I plant my pumpkins and squash into the pile.......the heat gets those babies going and I have fabulous compost and squash by end of summer. It works beautifully for a yard with not so much garden area.

 

I'm not a fan, but I think Alan Titchmarsh was dead right about composting. Just be patient.

 

I built my compost bin from untreated wood from b&q 3 years ago, and its been fine, no need to water treat it at all.

 

clicked Kristens link and found my council do them £ 5 220 ltr and £6 330ltr , downloaded pdf and ordered on line get a voucher through post and just collect

 

Blinking heck that's cheap, well done :thumb: