Compost bin
Spring will be here before you know it. Or, depending or where you live, it might already be here! In New England, we still have snow on the ground. I'm already thinking about the spring cleanup and getting the garden beds ready for another growing season though. One of the best things for gardens is nice, fresh compost. I wish I had a bunch available, but I don't. However, there's something I can do about it - I can make my own!
The first thing I needed to do was build a compost bin. When I was younger and lived in Vermont, I had plenty of space to just have compost piles (a few in different stages of decay). Now where I live in Massachusetts, space is at a premium and I don't have the luxury to have the same setup. A compost bin is a great way to have one in a smaller space.
For the design, I went with a simple tall box with a screened lid to help keep out any pests. I used 2"x4" studs as the stock for the sides to be attached securely to. I use ring-shanked nails to keep things together when it's full and left one side open. On the open side, I made a simple sliding wall so that I could pull it up and dig from the bottom to get the older compost out. I used a simple rail to keep the sliding wall in it's track. The photo shows a detail of this.
The first thing I needed to do was build a compost bin. When I was younger and lived in Vermont, I had plenty of space to just have compost piles (a few in different stages of decay). Now where I live in Massachusetts, space is at a premium and I don't have the luxury to have the same setup. A compost bin is a great way to have one in a smaller space.
For the design, I went with a simple tall box with a screened lid to help keep out any pests. I used 2"x4" studs as the stock for the sides to be attached securely to. I use ring-shanked nails to keep things together when it's full and left one side open. On the open side, I made a simple sliding wall so that I could pull it up and dig from the bottom to get the older compost out. I used a simple rail to keep the sliding wall in it's track. The photo shows a detail of this.
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