Topic: Compost bins

[iain]

Can anyone tell me if it is best to buy a compost bin or make one form old pallets ?
If the answer is pallets, how do you buld them ?

Many thanks Iain

[the_snail]

You can check to see if your council sell them.

Or

You can get 4 pallets and hammer them together to make the four sides and place it on top of the soil so the worms can get in grom the bottom. Then just fill it up with weeds and you have got a composter. Find a old piece of carpet as a cover for the top or some cardboard.

I just pile the weeds up in a section of the allotment and cover them up and that works great also.

The_Snail

[Derekthefox]

Or you can do as I have, and make two open bins from 5 pallets, joined to form a letter E when viewed from above. The open sides are then partially closed in with low walls formed by stacking newspapers ... These low walls are great I find when trimming vegetables, as the veg can be placed on them, or buckets or whatever ...

Derekthefox :D

[AikenDrum]

I've got an unlimited supply of "food" for the compost bin  .... I secretly bagged up all of my ex-wives cooking  ....   *smacks own wrist*    {:¬ (

[AikenDrum]

plural    {:¬ (

[AikenDrum]

Having said that, I only married them one at a time   :P

[AikenDrum]

Well, yes, but it wasn't a very orderly queue, stopped me from getting to the bar !    :-\

[Meg]

My E shaped compost bin is tied with string. Cringe how un diy is that.

[Derekthefox]

If works maggie, then why knock it ...

Derekthefox :D

[jennym]

My E shaped compost bin is tied with string. Cringe how un diy is that.

Better then my eldest son's attempt to repair his bicycle with sellotape!

[dotCompost]

I used wire. However, you are right:

Tie wraps would be better  ;D

[Derekthefox]

Jen, tell him to use electrician's tape, that stuff is very tough and versatile. I even keep a roll in my gardening jacket as an emergency first aid kit (it will cover wounds until properly treated, and can seal bad bleeds very effectively).

Derekthefox :D

[bluespuggy]

if you are wanting to buy compost bins try e bay.co.uk, i got one for £15.00.

bluespuggy

[undercarriage plan]

Hey Blue..er..spuggy!!
I just hurl mine on the ground, when it's big enough, cover it, then start hurling elsewhere...I did start off with it vaguely controlled in a chicken wire construction, but ended up with so much leaf waste etc, I had to pu it somewhere!! Hurling, answer to all life's little mysteries.. ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

I use bins till I run out of space in them, then start piling it. One day, I'll have everything under control and I won't need my piles. The current mountain has taken three years to build, in my first year on the plot I built two. So there's hope.

[Derekthefox]

I tend to produce small piles all around the allotment, then as they shrink down a bit, generally after about a fortnight, then I will shift them up to the compost heap(s) at the end of the plot. I am not a tidy gardener ...

[timf]

I tend to produce small piles all around the allotment

you just gave me a horriblly funny image with that line derek.

[Derekthefox]

Well I suppose you could consider them my calling cards ...  ::)

[supagranz]

I bought a compost bin on ebay for a princely sum of £0.99p and i'm filling it up nicely.....pallets you can get from companies most of the time they are free

[John_H]

I have three green daleks which in theory makes it possible for me to turn compost from one into another as it rots down. Its a good theory but it hasn't quite worked out like that because a number of slow worms moved in  at the end of last summer and now I don't want to turf them out until the weather warms up and I have created somewhere else safe for them to live.

I've also got five really cheap plastic soil sieves from the pound shop, and I use these as a sort of wormery which fits inside the bins. I'm trying an experiment at the moment where I use fresh decomposing  veg inside sieves to entice the compost worms out of the compost which is ready to get spread over the beds. Once the worms have chomped their way up into the sieves, I should then have a big pile of worms to transfere to a new dalek when I start one off. I have no idea if it will work but it seemed sort of possible.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/50794154@N00/58968409/in/set-1385790/