There are a great many compost bins on the market and they meet a variety of needs, however building your own allows you to refine your composting system to meet your lawn and garden needs.
Just as every garden and gardener is unique, so are the needs of each situation.
Location will determine some of the requirements of your individual composting bins.
If you are out in the country and the nearest neighbours are a mile away, almost anything will do for a bin as far as appearance is concerned.
However, rural gardens tend to be fairly large and a large system may be needed.
First there is understanding of pile size for planning the compost bins.
A compost pile should be three feet wide and high but can be as long as is wanted.
It should be understood though, that at some point it will likely be necessary to toss the working compost from one bin into another.
Generally it will easier to cast the material from one short bin into the one beside it rather than from very long one.
In other words it may be better to have two or sets of smaller bins rather than one long one.
In addition to the bins themselves, the finding of material for composting is a part of the whole system.
While leaves, dried grasses and spoiled hay are often available in rural areas for the brown material, there is often a lack of ready green material.
It may be possible, however, to grow a crop of oats, buckwheat or other grain to be harvested green for the compost pile.
In urban areas the system may need to be tailored more to the property and community as far as appearance is concerned.
Some urban area may even have bylaws governing what may or may not be used for composting purposes.
Once this has been determined the nature of the bins can be decided.
Again, a good size for a compost pile is three feet by three feet by three feet and three bins together is a good system for most composting.
This allows a pile for collecting, one for turning and one for use.
Most urban gardens will provided enough weeds, spent plants and lawn clippings for green material but brown material in the form of fall leaves and other dried plants may need to be stored for spring and summer use.
In the fall one of the bins will likely be empty and can be used to store the leaves.
The bins themselves can be sided to resemble the garden shed or even the house.
Materials can range from used lumber to bricks to siding that matches existing buildings.
Just remember to construct the bins so as to allow good air flow to all sides and the top of the piles.
A little thought will allow your compost bins to not only supply black gold for the garden but also to lend their own ambiance to the home garden.
Just as every garden and gardener is unique, so are the needs of each situation.
Location will determine some of the requirements of your individual composting bins.
If you are out in the country and the nearest neighbours are a mile away, almost anything will do for a bin as far as appearance is concerned.
However, rural gardens tend to be fairly large and a large system may be needed.
First there is understanding of pile size for planning the compost bins.
A compost pile should be three feet wide and high but can be as long as is wanted.
It should be understood though, that at some point it will likely be necessary to toss the working compost from one bin into another.
Generally it will easier to cast the material from one short bin into the one beside it rather than from very long one.
In other words it may be better to have two or sets of smaller bins rather than one long one.
In addition to the bins themselves, the finding of material for composting is a part of the whole system.
While leaves, dried grasses and spoiled hay are often available in rural areas for the brown material, there is often a lack of ready green material.
It may be possible, however, to grow a crop of oats, buckwheat or other grain to be harvested green for the compost pile.
In urban areas the system may need to be tailored more to the property and community as far as appearance is concerned.
Some urban area may even have bylaws governing what may or may not be used for composting purposes.
Once this has been determined the nature of the bins can be decided.
Again, a good size for a compost pile is three feet by three feet by three feet and three bins together is a good system for most composting.
This allows a pile for collecting, one for turning and one for use.
Most urban gardens will provided enough weeds, spent plants and lawn clippings for green material but brown material in the form of fall leaves and other dried plants may need to be stored for spring and summer use.
In the fall one of the bins will likely be empty and can be used to store the leaves.
The bins themselves can be sided to resemble the garden shed or even the house.
Materials can range from used lumber to bricks to siding that matches existing buildings.
Just remember to construct the bins so as to allow good air flow to all sides and the top of the piles.
A little thought will allow your compost bins to not only supply black gold for the garden but also to lend their own ambiance to the home garden.