I need some good ideas for making or buying a compost bin that work great, is easy, and doesn't cost too much.

If you have an out-of-sight-of-the-neighbors spot, composting can be simple.
One roll of metal fencing, Homey Depots, smallish openings, 3-4' high.
Form 3 circles out of wire (or snowfencing) about 3' in diameter.
Why 3? 3 stages of decomposition!
You start in round fenced area 1, move the stuff into area 2 after 3 weeks, etc. That way, you always have space for new green stuff.
Use stakes (sturdy, rebar works, 4' long, 1 foot into the ground) to keep the wire mesh circles from collapsing, 1 stake inside, 1 stake outside etc., use 4 per circle.
If you are lazy like me, you simply lift the stakes and wire up when the compost is done.

Twenty bucks should do it...

John / Ecologicalsgardens

I agree. For years, I did all my composting in wire fencing wrapped into circles. I didn't even bother with the stakes. When it was time to turn a pile, I just unhooked the "seam" where I'd joined the fencing, lifted the whole thing off and set it back up right beside the pile and then forked all the stuff back into the fence.

If you need something slightly better looking, there is a product that is marketed as a way of growing potatoes in a bin, but it was originally sold as a compost bin by Smith & Hawkin which is where I got mine. It is made of heavy black plastic with round holes in it and you do the same thing--form it into a circle. Sorry, I can't find the catalogs that I've seen it in lately, not Smith & Hawkin anymore. But it's inexpensive and does the job.

the quickest, cheapest method i use is to dig a 1 foot wide by 2 feet long by 1 foot deep pit into your garden and place your plant matter into the pit and let nature do its work. another method i use for larger qauntity of plant matter is to mulch an area of my garden with this matter and just let it lie and rot to the point that i can dig it into my garden. ok, so both of these ways are not the high tech method everybody else uses, but it does get the job done. peace be with you and may your garden loves it compost.

Make that three to agree. I form a circle with green vinyl-coated fencing and fasten it simply with double bread ties, top and bottom, middle and two more inbetween. I make sure to place the bin so that I can easily reach the bread ties to undo later on. I have four of these placed under my macadamia tree, in the shade. I fill two up, always chopping what I put in into at least five inch short pieces. I water a couple of times a week to keep moist. While they are "cooking" I start filling my other two bins. By the time the second two are filled, the first two are pretty close to being finished. I don't even turn the piles. When the first two are done I just untwist the bread ties, open up the fencing and shovel out the compost. Now, there are some pieces that don't get totally broken down and I'll share my system for dealing with that in another post.

My very clever 13yr. old son built for me a compost sifter which we designed together. It consists of two cirlces of pressboard, joined together by 1"x2" slats of wood to form a barrel shape and covered with small mesh screen three quarters of the way around so as to leave an opening. Each pressboard has a hole in the center through which a galvanized steel pipe slides and fits into saw-horse type legs on each side. I shovel compost into the opening and turn the barrel back and forth which causes the small finished compost particles to sift out into my wheel barrow which I park underneath it. Then, when all that is left in the barrel is large pieces, I move the wheelbarrow and put down a piece of vinyl, turn the barrel upside down to empty the big stuff onto it. I gather up the corners and dump the unfinished stuff back into the new compost piles. It sounds kinda complicated when put into words, but really is a very simple and efficient system that sort of evolved over the last three years. I'm quite tickled by it. No turning, easy access to finished compost and having the bins under the tree gives me shade when I'm working and probably contributes nutrients to the roots of the tree. Hope this has inspired or at least amused you. Happy Composting!

I have recently moved and needed a compost bin in a hurry! I bought a plastic garbage can and drilled holes for drainage. Not to hard to turn and the compost is done took less than 6 months over winter conditions

> I have recently moved and needed a compost bin in a
> a hurry! I bought a plastic garbage can and drilled
> holes for drainage. Not to hard to turn and the
> compost is done took less than 6 months over winter
> conditions

There was a letter in the last issue of OG (I think) that talked about using plastic garbage cans for winter composting in the house. Could you use three of them like you might use a three bin system? Where did you poke the holes? In the top? Did you leave the cover on or off the cans. I have a very small area where I want to put the bins, very little money to spend on them, and I want to protect them from my 11 month old shepherd puppy who eats anything. I think the plastic can idea would be a good one. If I used smaller cans, could I wire the lids on and then roll them to turn the compost?

What ideas do people have out there?

I used the wire fencing method for years, then switched to wooden bins from pallets, now I got lazy and just pile it up.

i don't know if this was my post or not... could've been. i moved into an apt w/ a small yard. compost had to be out of the way & hidden. hidden was the hard part, there's a building that has a walkway looking down into our yard. but i didn't get my sub to OG mag till this month & never sent them a letter. if you roll them you don't have to havee 3, that was a way to turn the compost.
i bough trashcans (w/ wheels) & drilled holes all over... bottom & sides, about every 3 inches. that lets air in (i think), i wheeled the cans to wherever i'm gardening/weeding. fill 'em up & then wheel them back to their corner. i thow some dirt in occasionally & every worm i find goes in too. i bought the cans w/ teh 'locking' lid. i turn 'em on their sides to roll tehm. just remember not to fill 'em too full or that won't mix them.
only problem is w/ another know-it-all tenant who empties them. i keep telling her that i'm composting, she keeps "forgeting". do yuo give the puppy chew toys? he won't be teething much longer. good training tool for him is a soda can w/ some pennies in it. rattle it at him when he does somethng wrong, he'll hate teh sound & associate it w/ the action. it really works!

can't WAIT to get my yard!

I have two methods of composting... the first I use my kitchen waste for is direct planting... I just take what ever is in the kitchen that needs gone and dig a hole right in the corner of the newest spot in the garden... I make it about 18 inches deep... and cover it good so my dogs or other critters down find it... no problem so far ..

The second is for a bigger pile of mulch I make and I use wooden pallets that I got free... I have a two bin system.. working and done...In this I put chopped up leaves, barn waste from the horse farm , and cut grass..I work on it all spring and summer... in the fall I move what ever is not used to put in the garden beds into the done pile and start a new working pile that I will work on during the winter... I still bury my kitchen scraps in the winter

It all depends on how much material you have to work with...and how much space you have.

I do know it pays off in the long run... I have been composting for 3 years now and my beds are looking great...best of luck

I bought one of those at Home Depot a few years ago for about $10.00. I came rolled up like a thin mat. Michelle

My husband and I bought our place not that long ago, and we used the old real estate signs to make a compost bin. They are the metal sign frames that stake into the ground, and the signs were fitted into metal slots on the sides. We took out the signs, set the sign frames opposite each other in the ground. Then we wrapped chicken wire around three sides. On the front, we stuck a piece of rebar through the top of the chicken wire ( I know this is probably hard to picture) like a hinge. We used a scrap of trim work to make a frame for a door which opens at the bottom (so you can get to the best compost first) and hung it from the rebar "hinge". Then we just used some scraps of baling wire to "latch" it at the bottom. It works great, cost almost nothing, and even looks pretty good. Best yet, it took less than half an hour to build.

Scavenging is free and two rolling compost barrel plans can be found at : http://www.gardengatemagazine.com/tips/17tip12.html
or http.//rco.on.ca/factsheet/fs_ee01.html
Factories are good places to find pallets - they can be taken apart and used for many garden projects.

I too was most interested in something cheap. Per recommendations here and other forums, I found using pallets is cheap (most important for me) works well (very important), and even looks nice (not as important). Just prop them up, connect them with nails or wire and you're done. Tie the front pallet on one side and you have a hinged door. I just started composting, but hope to implement a two bin system with working and finished piles.