^straw is great. holds in moisture very well. I had a few piles with some straw in there and then I covered them with about 6" of straw as well - turned to compost in no time and was easily the best looking compost I had. go to lowe's, they typically give away the piles in the parking lot for free (the piles in front of the straw trailer).


[Edited on June 17, 2014 at 8:50 AM. Reason : .]

6/17/2014 8:49:17 AM

As an experiment I have set up a new worm composter.

I have an earth machine that works great (and I guess worms may decide to enter from the bottom), but I recently started a new dirt bucket (repurposed tree pot) to prep dirt I use for potting hop plants and banana trees. I threw a couple worms I found in the dirt bucket, and they have multiplied like crazy (the dirt bucket is on top of the metal sewer cover so I don't think new worms entered through the drainage holes). I grabbed another tree bucket and prepped the bottom with shredded paper, soil, and built a cover out of screen and plywood. The nightcrawlers arrive today! I look forward to not having to drive to the gas station to get fishing bait now.

8/6/2014 10:03:43 AM

worms have been installed!

8/6/2014 1:21:05 PM

My dogs kept eating the yet-to-be composted materials in my compost pile... annoying and not healthy for dogs. I wanted to put a front on my compost bins, I just hadn't done it yet. So the dogs motivated me to get moving. Just some decking boards held together by 1x4s; and 1x4s attached to 2x2s which are attached to the posts as guides. The bottom decking board is a little longer than the others above and it is separate, as this helps keep the post spacing constant for each bin; the next 4 decking boards are joined together, then the top 3 are joined together. All simply lift up and out. If the look uneven it's because I didn't care to level the ground for the first board - not that important

44"Hx(45-48"W depending on the bin)W

I still want to do a cover, though haven't thought much about that yet.



[Edited on June 25, 2015 at 8:51 AM. Reason : [Edited on June 25, 2015 at 8:51 AM. Reason : ]]

[Edited on June 25, 2015 at 8:58 AM. Reason : .]

6/25/2015 8:48:01 AM