How To Build A Composter

In this post, I'll explain how to quickly and easily build an inexpensive composter.

Last year, I researched composters and was intrigued by the ones that look like barrels.  You may have seen these at garden centers or in advertisements.  This type of composter can be hand rotated to speed up the composting process.  There are a variety of designs on the market, but most are expensive -- some cost over $300.

A Big Science Project That Didn't Work

Buying a ready made barrel composter was a little rich for my blood, so I opted to construct one of my own using 2x4's and a food-grade 50 gallon plastic barrel that was originally used to store horse feed.  I used this composter last year but was not happy with it. 

For one thing, I didn't turn the barrel as frequently as I should have.  A little of this was just laziness on my part.  However, I often found myself taking scraps to the composter while we were making diner; I didn't want to get my hands dirty when cooking, so I didn't rotate the composter when I was adding materials.  Then I would forget to rotate the composter the next day.  Needless to say, the composter didn't get turned that frequently.

Additionally, as a reader of this blog has already commented, barrel composters get heavy as more material is added to the barrel, making it increasingly difficult to rotate over time.  So even if you had the inclination to do so, rotating the barrel becomes a chore.

A Simpler Approach

This year I decided move to a simpler design which just holds the compostable material together using poultry netting.  To build the composter will take less than 30 minutes. You won't need many tools and it won't cost much either. 

To make compost, the only thing you'll need to do is put down layers of compostable material. You can turn the compost if you wish to do so.  This will speed up the composting process, but this is optional.  Sound good?

Materials List

• Poultry Netting/Chicken Wire.  4 foot high, 1" diameter poultry netting.  The number of feet you need, depends on the size of the composter you wish to make.  The minimum size would be a square with each side 3 feet long (12 feet total).  In colder climates, you should make each side 4 feet long since this will keep more heat in the compost pile (16 feet total).  I made my composter 6'x4' so I used a total of 20 feet of poultry netting.
  
• Two cedar fence boards.  These are generally 6 feet high but you will cut them down to 4 feet high to match the height of the poultry netting.
• Four metal garden stakes.  These come in a variety of heights.  I used 4 foot stakes which will end up being 3 feet high once you pound them into the ground.
• Eight plastic zip ties.  These are thin plastic closures that will attach the poultry netting to the stakes.  If you don't know what they are, ask at the hardware store.  You want ties that are long enough to go completely around the stakes and then some.  A 6 inch zip tie will be more than adequate.
  
• Two hook and eye closures.  These will hold the composter doors closed.
  

Tools Needed

• Staple gun and staples
• hand or electric saw
• Hammer

Construction:

1. Loosen the soil in the area where you will place your composter to a depth of 12".  This will provide good drainage in your compost area.
   
2. Use a hammer to pound the stakes into the ground in a square which matches the dimensions of the compost pile you wish to build.
3. Cut the cedar fence boards to 4 feet.
4. Unwrap the poultry netting and use the staple gun to attach one end of the poultry netting to the cedar board.  (The board is 4 feet long and just matches the height of the poultry netting)
   
5. Place the board at the front end of the composter about half way between the front two metal stakes.
6. Carefully unwrap the poultry netting so that it extends past the first metal stake.
7. Use two zip ties to secure the poultry netting to the first stake.  One zip tie at the top of the stake and the other at the bottom. The poultry netting will extend 1 foot above the stake.
   
8. Continue to unwrap the poultry netting and wrap it around the second metal stake.
9. Attach the netting to the second stake with two more zip ties.
10. Continue to do this until the poultry wire is completely around the compost bin.
11. Now attach the poultry wire to the second cedar fence board using the staple gun.  You want to staple the poultry netting to the board so that the two boards are close enough to each other to form a kind of door. (see photo)
    
12. Cut the roll of poultry wire from the second fence board.
13. Attach the two hook and eye closures to the two fence boards.  These will allow you to open the compost bin when you want to remove compost or turn the pile.
14. Add about 3 inches of brush and twigs to the bottom of your composter.  The twigs and brush will allow air to circulate under the composter.
15. You're done.  Reward yourself with a glass of wine or a beer!
    

Composting:

Composting is accomplished by adding successive layers of brown materials, green materials and soil.  I'll cover this in a future post, but you can find plenty of information about this online if you want to read about this or need to start your compost pile immediately.

 
 

Comments

[Richard]

Nice design. I might have to copy it for my next compost bin. For now I just gathered up all the random concrete blocks that were laying around in my yard and built a box and filled it up. This seems a lot easier to deal with when you need to turn the compost.

[Mark Delman]

Hi Richard - The advantage of poultry wire is that it allows more air to flow to the compost and will compost a little faster. But there is no one perfect design. Cinder blocks will also work because your really just creating a space to compost. The process is the same no matter what design you use.

I anchored my bin to the ground using garden stakes, but an alternate design is to put fence boards every 3 feet and not anchor the bin at all. This design has the advantage of being "reusable." Once the compost area is full, remove the bin and move to a new location. Then fill it again. Do it as many times as you like.

It really depends on how much area you want to farm and other factors.

[Mark Delman]

Hi Richard - The advantage of poultry wire is that it allows more air to flow to the compost and will compost a little faster. But there is no one perfect design. Cinder blocks will also work because your really just creating a space to compost. The process is the same no matter what design you use.

I anchored my bin to the ground using garden stakes, but an alternate design is to put fence boards every 3 feet and not anchor the bin at all. This design has the advantage of being "reusable." Once the compost area is full, remove the bin and move to a new location. Then fill it again. Do it as many times as you like.

It really depends on how much area you want to farm and other factors.

[Michaele]

I made one by lining four pallets with chicken wire on one side and then just tying them together to form a square. No posts required. Just untie one side and open like a gate. Not quite as good of air flow as this one and since I don't have pallets but do have T posts - I think I will give this a try.

[Mark Delman]

Hi Michaele:

As they say, there's not just one way to skin a cat. Your method sounds good too.

I know some people use poultry netting and fence boards with no fence posts to anchor the composter to a permanent place. The advantage to that system is that you can unhook the wire, move to another site and start another compost pile. I didn't need want to do this, so I opted for fence posts.