sparkleeeeee Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 today i made a compost bin that cost me nothing!! 100% recycled i raided the skip and the bonfire pile for mesh and pallets and it took me about an hour including clearing out the old compost bin. it has a top two thirds where the garden waste goes in which is covered with old underlay and a pallet. there is a mesh agitater and a mesh divider then the compost should fall into the compartment below that had a removable mesh tray. the end pannel has a removable bottom part for easy access. i have meshed around the inside of the bin to stop rats making a home in the bottom compartment. i had a plastic bin before which is always full and i used to pile it up around the outside so i needed another one but couldnt find one i liked. when some old pallets came back from a job and went on the bonfire pile i swept into action. i used to work for the council in the summer holidays at uni doing research on recycling and composting and i used to go around taking temperatures of compost bins to see how effective they were. i met a man who had eight the size of my new one. they were in a rotation system. i dont really need that many but i do want access to the compost without waiting to take the whole lot out. hopefully i will be able to just slide it out wothout making loads of mess. I am really chuffed with myself today, hubbie just tutted and kept saying 'sad.....sad...sad!!!!!' and 'where is my dinner?'. he is not really into the self sufficency thing. but most things get recycled that go in our skip when they get to the depot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 wow that sounds great - any pictures? I have already filled my two plastic bins (from the council scheme) and need more space! well done on recycling the materials, love to see what it's like! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starboyhull Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 Im still waiting for mine Olly......2 Months ive waited.......Might take the tips from the thread....... Great thread by the way.,,.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 I'd love to see pictures or a diagram! I have 3 from the council and find them useless really. With a garden the size of mine they are full in no time and provide cosy homes for the rat. More than once I have taken the lid off to put something in, to find him sitting on top eating discarded veg. I now use Bokashi bins for kitchen waste and then bury it, which seems to work as I haven't seen signs of it being dug up. Yet. I made a home made bin for garden waste out of chicken wire and 4 pieces of wood. It is now full and festering away. It is not a pretty sight. I would love to make a more robust one and use recycled wood etc. Here is a picture of it taken a couple of months ago. It is now full to the top and covered with an old carpet. It doesn't smell like the black plastic ones do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Great idea - photos would be good We're making one - 3 bays - out of old pallets, but a man who helps us with the garden back at the house works for the Shakepeare properties doing the gardens and he said the best thing to use is corrugated metal sheet as it keeps it warmer if you have large compost areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Im still waiting for mine Olly......2 Months ive waited....... the council scheme is rubbish, in my opinion ... last year I ordered a waterbutt, after FOUR months wait I cancelled the order because I'd decided to move house! At the new place, I ordered two composters, and because I got no acknowledgement, I assumed the order had failed so did it again. Three weeks later, both orders were acknowledged - I cancelled one - but they still debited my account for four lots! Took me quite a few stroppy phonecalls to sort it out. Still, they are cheap. I did a composting course recently, and the wooden or home-made ones are just as good apparently - plastic just looks tidier in the garden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkleeeeee Posted July 4, 2007 Author Share Posted July 4, 2007 hi hubbie has borrowed my camera to take some photos of a job he is pricing and i have some photos on that so i will put them in my omlet album when he gets home. i didnt really like the plastic compost bins we did have two and they dont really produce good compost. almost every wooden bin i took the temperature of in my survey made a really good compost. i am not sure how mine will work with the space underneath but i put a piece of cardboard on top of the mesh to keep the heat in whilst i fill it up, it will rot down or its easy to remove once i have got the heat up. old bits of weighted carpet are ideal covers which are easy to remove. i cleared out the bliss from my eglu run and it will be a good starter material. i think over the year i will have alot of bliss and chicken poo especially as i am hopefully getting another eglu so i should get some great compost for next spring (fingers crossed) i am waiting to cut the grass but it has been wet for two weeks. metal sides are good but if you are going to make a tall one like mine and you are short like me take care when throwing stuff in as you might catch your arms. metal will certainly last longer and you would get a good heat up inside. i just used what was lying around i think if there were some metal sheets around i would have lined it in metal. i do like the wood efect so i would have still had the pallets for the outer. i will let you know how it gets on over the summer, you never know it might fall to bits as soon as i fill it or i might not get enough heat or i might end up with rats living under it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Bliss If that is your idea of bliss Sparkleeeee I'd love to know what your idea of misery is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkleeeeee Posted July 4, 2007 Author Share Posted July 4, 2007 oh... bliss is like hemcore with citronella!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkleeeeee Posted July 23, 2007 Author Share Posted July 23, 2007 i have a couple of photos in my album link is in my signature below Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 gosh that looks good ... I don't know where I'd get pallets from, but I think that would be a better solution! I had two new plastic ones in March, both are now full. I will have to revert to the 'big heap piled in the corner' which was here when I arrived ... it still makes compost but isn't too attractive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkleeeeee Posted August 7, 2007 Author Share Posted August 7, 2007 shame you are not near me we have a few down the yard at the moment. i will ask hubbie where you might get some i am now making a 100% recycled climbing frame as well we did have a metal TP one before but a whole load of bits from some old wooden mobile steps came back and were going to be burnt. i couldnt resist and have spent the last two weeks making it. i took the slides from my tp climbing frame which i will e-bay later. there are photos in my album. i havent made the swing or the ladder at the back yet. the little house underneath the slide platform is going to be a fairy den when its finished. the kids love it. i am going to make a waterproof fabric roof as well, but i will have to buy the fabric off e-bay as we dont have any of that in the yard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
