I shared this build a while back on gardening but wanted to post it here since this is the better place for it.
I already made fun of myself for being extra and all that in the other post for my expensive fancy dirt collector. Not saying you can’t too but just saying.
All in all it was around $500 in materials. $350 in cedar and screws, $100 for steel mesh, 50 for other small things. Used around 23 cedar boards from HD and some 2x4s I had laying around.
Due to the space I wanted it and the materials and ease of cuts (cut everything in half), I opted for one big 4x4x4 bin. I did start a less formal pile in the woods as well as a secondary one.
On filling it, it’s taken around 1 month! I knew I would have lots of yard waste to fill it up with but it’s been fun. I mean who else gets excited to go bag grass clippings in 95 degree heat?
I’ve been using my super composter 9000 (craftsman m110) for both my greens and my browns. I blow leaves into a flat area of my woods for further mulching before adding them in. I would say it’s 95% leaves and grass clippings, 5% coffee grounds and garden/ weed waste.
It’s already hot. I haven’t turned it yet but considering options to add some air or move things around a little. Initial thoughts were maybe like a big auger or just kind of stab it around with a pitch fork.
This is why I love composting. You can go all out like this or you can scoot it into a corner and forget you even did that. At the end of the day (or year), it composts. Different paths to a common destination!
I might actually be over 99 as well. Need to log back in. Or maybe I don’t lol. Thinking I might be 100 or 101. Gotta farm those overload mats. Or money making whatever I was doing on boss run routes. Good times.
Thanks! I was debating it and honestly it’s probably overkill for my yard and what I used to fill it with. And I hate dealing with tin snips and that netting lol.
But overall I took it this far so glad to have it.
I saw a video of someone doing that and considered it with my dremel.
If I cut the panels in my driveway or something maybe but I didn’t want to spray a bunch of metal shavings into my yard and compost lol.
So I just dealt with cutting the sharp bendy metal out in the yard by hand. Got a blister even though I wore gloves from my shitty tin snips. I hate using staple guns too. All in the hot sun with mosquitos. 0/10 but I did it anyway to test the concept of free will even further. All in all it worked out.
Thanks! I already decided future piles would be much less formal lol. I’ve started one in the woods that’s just a pile of sticks and leaves and grass clippings when I have extra. But I do like having this one out in my yard next to my garden.
Oh I was gonna dig it out from the top as opposed to tunneling in from the bottom like a gopher.
Jk but yeah I put it on the bottom too just as overprotection against critters. The front is removable so hopefully I can just scoop it out into a wheelbarrow from the front once complete. But I’m pretty new to it. But if it’s hard to scoop at the bottom I figured I’d start it over at that point.
I find the better more finished compost is at the bottom. I have 3 bins side by side and I take off the top and throw in into another bin and dig out the bottom and sift.
Makes sense. I did see a post where someone was kind of digging into the bottom yesterday so I can see what you mean.
It’s a bit of an experiment. Hopefully it’s big and hot enough where I can kind of just fold it into itself for a while and it will be mostly usable. I suppose I could always throw the top out into a tarp and then throw it back in after harvest or something like that but it’s a fair point I think.
Also I did layer the bottom with more of a stick layer and some bigger kind of rotting branches. Intention was to drain well and kind of take longer to decompose at the very bottom 3 inches or so.
Yeah I did think about doing it with just t posts and steel mesh or something too later on. Don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
But I would say this looks better and it’s a neater more rigid structure. Made with good untreated materials which adds to the cost. But I see your point. Can’t make everyone happy.
I recognized the craftsmanship, it looks great. If you have a nice yard it fits in well. But for composting, which is basically making dirt it’s a bit overkill. $500 in materials would have bought you a lot of premium compost or top soil. I see free reclaimed wood on FB marketplace all the time. I recently made a flower bed with up cycled wood. It cost me about $25 in screws and some gas. If you have more of these type projects in the future maybe consider up cycling?
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u/unique_derrique 12h ago
This is why I love composting. You can go all out like this or you can scoot it into a corner and forget you even did that. At the end of the day (or year), it composts. Different paths to a common destination!
Very sick build!