Compost bin with plans

A thing of beauty!

My first attempt to compost was a valiant one. I bought a black box on a website and I diligently put my veggie scraps, egg shells and coffee grounds into it. The amount of stuff that went to the landfill decreased mightily and my tomatoes were award-winning! OK no real awards, but pretty good and abundant. However, the more full it got, the harder it was to turn, which is crucial to getting a good mix of compost.

Then Martha had to taunt me with this. Oh bring it!

Special thanks to Peter for the sweat! We (really he) made it for less than $100, using all scrap we had on hand. We had to buy the wire, some screws and bolts, and the cedar for the front.

We put in the corner of the yard and put it on the drip line. The right side is for dry items (leaves and grass clippings) the left side is for the active or “cooking” compost. That side is on the drip system. I’ll layer my scraps with the dry and turn once a month.