The Garden Gourmet Composter

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trying to teach the kids how to make a compost bin where do we begin new to all this ,gardening , composting, etc we need to know what to put in one how to build one any thing like that, and also how long it takes till you can use the compost

Don’t have to have a bin. I place mine on the ground. Need carbon (leaves, old paper, dead grass, or spoiled hay), and nitrogen (fresh grass clippings, manure, food scraps, coffee grounds, etc). Better and quicker if you shred the leaves, add grass, manure as you shred ( a push lawnmower does good). Make pile moist ( like a wrung out sponge). Needs to be at least 3 feet high. Wait three days and turn it (re-pile). It will have a hot center if carbon/nitrogen/water are in correct proportion and size of pile is large enough. 3 parts carbon, 1 part nitrogen. Starbucks and other coffee shops will give you spent grounds.
May have to turn it 4 or 5 times to make a good fluffy, sweet smelling compost. When the heat goes down and worms invade it is ready.

I’m starting a container garden and I wanted a compost bin but I’d rather make one myself than buy one. I’m not really "handy" or so they call it. I don’t have a drill either. And I was looking for an easy, simple way that wouldn’t take very long to make.

Use a cheap garbage can. Poke a hole in the lid & the side (near the top) and use string to secure the lid to the can (just in case). Then take a screw driver & poke holes in it in maybe 24 different places on the sides & bottom. Put up on blocks in your garden so that it gets air from various sides. Make sure you put a block or brick on top of the lid so that rodents don’t get in.

Something really cheap. I like those tumbler kind a lot, but they are to expensive so I prefer to make my own.

There are several ways to make a compost bin on a budget. This article will discuss three different bins that you can make inexpensively. The first is made out of wire, the second out of cinder blocks and the third out of wood pallets.
http://www.ehow.com/how_4823902_build-compost-bin-budget.html

I need six or more to convert them into compost tumblers for my garden.
I like the one this guy built in his garden.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcPz4XF-yUM

Check your local listings for "barrel & drum" companies. In previous years they were mostly of a metal content, but if they’re up to date they should have plastic ones. Most have them for resale.

When the bins first started being used they were for garden waste only, then they decided to include kitchen vegetable waste, now they’ve told us to put meat, fish, skin and bones in the bin.

While I think it’s a good idea, most of my garden and kitchen waste goes in my own compost bin. I never put any animal waste into my compost and used to put into the normal waste bin.

The amount of waste animal matter I have at most just about fills a litre ice cream tub per fortnight, which means putting my large wheelie bin out for collection with that little amount in it, especially during the winter months.

This seems rediculous to me, does anyone else have a similar problem? How do you overcome it?

I think many people are having this problem. Iuse my compost bins too, but we can also put paper products, like cardboard in our green bins. And yes, they only collect them every two weeks.
Which is fine, though inconvenient, in the winter months. But imagine putting out chicken carcasses etc in the summer months? I had maggotts last year, twice. It was horrendous. And it smelled.
I bought a wormery, which meant you could put meat in it. Although this hasn’t stopped squirrels or rats trying to chew through it.

I have a compost bin in my garden. I have it in the spot where it is because I am limited for space. But like all compost bins it is big and ugly. How can I make an inexpensive screen for it ?
I am quite handy with tools etc but dont know what materials to to use.

grow plants around it.
buy some bamboo screening from a DIY store and hide it.

I live near Charlotte NC and am trying to make a compost tumbler

You could just buy one, if you decide your time is worth more than the money it costs. This one, http://www.organic-compost-tumbler.com is made from food grade barrels so I imagine it is just like what you want to make.

How do the microorganisms in the compost break down the material in there? Do the microogranisms just appear in the compost if the environment of the compost is correct? What temperature should the compost be? How can I make my own compost? Would it work if I had like a small box or something and I add whatever I need to add in there. I’m doing a science fair experiment on it and I want an easy and inexpensive way to create some sort of mini compost bin/tumbler. Thanks so much if you have ANY information on composting and please help on telling me any information on MAKING a mini compost bin/tumbler.

Make two wooden structures, size depends on how much ground you have and how much material you will have to compost. If you can get horse manure or cow dung, put a small amount at the base, add almost anything to the second layer, then a layer of soil. Do not disturb it. Continue until it reaches the top of the structure you made. Leave that one and start on the second. It will take you probably a year before you can use the first by which time the second will be ‘cooked’ and ready. Do not use rhubarb leaves. Do not use rose cuttings. Use paper, cardboard, old cabbages including roots, all garden waste, kitchen waste but not including meats. Beware of silver paper and the tape on cardboard. Everything else goes in. It will generate heat but do not worry, it will not cause fire. Don’t forget the layers, each about six inches high. It will seem that the structure never fills but that’s the break down taking effect. Hope it helps, good luck. ps. If you have snakes in your area, they like to nest in compost heaps and curiously enough, depending on whether the female snake wants males or females, depends on where she lays her eggs!

I have read a great deal about old farming and field style compost piles from "back in the day" & they all suggest manure & all Kitchen scraps. Why is it unpopular to use these items today?
We do have a large family. Myself, Hubby, my nephew & my 6 children! LOL The dog is FAT! He actually gets full to the point of turning his giant nose up at roasted chicken skin! So just as I suspected the popular reason for Not using meat scraps boils down to: "but that’s icky" which IMO is just naive & silly. My great grandmother had a small pit between four red plum trees. Into it went chicken feet, guts, Fresh manure, & saw dust. You cant tell me there wasn’t some E-Coli in that pit. But those plums were the biggest, most beautiful, sweet red plums EVER.
Keep these answers coming though! Just don’t answer with "because eeeww".

Back in the day, families were large, and most food came from the homestead. Compost piles were larger.

In a large compost pile, you can bury meat scraps in the center and it will be so hot that a rat would be cooked to death before he could get to them.