DIY free compost bin!

I love my indoor worm bin, but really it's just for fun. At this point they don't eat nearly enough to make a dent in our food scraps. So hubby and I have been talking about a proper outdoor compost bin (actually I've been talking and he's be patiently listening). But with the chance that we might move in the next year, having a proper compost bin that sits open on the ground wasn't very appealing. Hubby was thinking ahead to having to shovel all the compost up to move it. So after a bunch of googling, I found a very easy and FREE solution! One of my favorite blogs, Simple Mom, has a great tutorial. And today, I made my own compost bin :)

When we moved into this house, the previous tenants had left behind a very nice, very large rubbermaid garbage can on wheels with a locking lid. We really haven't used it. So voila! It now has a purpose! We have a perfect spot in our side yard (which is basically just our dog run anyways). It gets quite a bit of sun surprisingly. So I took hubby's handy drill with 1/2" bit, and drilled a bunch of holes around the bin. I also drilled a couple in the bottom for drainage. I didn't know if I should put a few in the lid, so I didn't. I figured it's easier to do it later if I need to rather than trying to fix it if I did it wrong. I just don't want to much water to get in there (rain/snow). Also, to help with drainage, it's suggested that you should put the bin up on bricks. I didn't have any bricks, and I certainly didn't want to have to get more 'stuff'' for a project that's sole intention is to reduce. So I just picked up a ton of rocks that were lying in our side yard and made a rock pile. Seems to work great! (and *ahem* they were free!).





So now my bin is ready and it's time to start filling it. Most recommendations seem to be you're working for 2/3 'brown/dry' material, and 1/3 'green/wet' material. The green part is easy. Kitchen scraps (fruits and veggies. NO meat, dairy, fat or breads). Fresh grass clippings, plant prunings, coffee grounds (and filter) and tea bags also count as green material. This is the nitrogen portion of the bin (I think!! I'm a newbie, please correct me if I'm wrong!!!). The brown part is things like old dried leaves, cardboard and newspaper (although those should be minimal). This is the carbon potion of the bin. Any plant like material that you put in your bin should be free of any chemicals/pesicides. You don't want that stuff ending up in your future vegetable gardens!

I was a little worried about the brown material. I wasn't sure how much I would need, and I was super low on old leaves. Just a few weeks ago I went around and totally cleaned/raked my yard and sent off all that awesome perfect brown matter to the landfill (insert regret and crying face here). But along my neglected side yard there was still old leaves! So I gathered up a bunch of those, and filled my bin probably just a foot deep (which really isn't much considering how my air is in the pile). I also added a little cardboard that's been sitting in the side yard for awhile now that we haven't dragged down to the recycle centre.




Now I will continue to add green material, then a layer of brown. So basically every time I add my kitchen scraps, I'll add some leaves, paper, whatever.

Now, with this bin system, you should roll the bin every few days, or at least once a week to make sure its got plenty of air circulation (or just stir). This should result in awesome compost in 4-6mths (from what I've read!). I have no desire for compost come October, I'm really just a lazy composter looking for a place to dump my scraps. So I probably won't be doing much rolling or stirring, We'll see what it looks like next spring wherever we are (hopefully some place with awesome raised beds!).

Oh, and I just have to mention again, this whole project cost exactly $0!!! My favorite price!