A friend of mine recently emailed to get my opinion on composting, and he got more than he bargained for. He wanted a bin for his house, but he was short on space.

Here’s what I told him:

As you may have feared, I have many opinions on compost!

You can do a simple wire mesh enclosure on some wooden stakes, which is cheap and more contained than an open pile, but it will still leave the stuff visible.

Middle tier option (and probably the best) is to wait for one of the compost bin sales held by local cities and counties. I got mine at the Orange county sale, but Raleigh and Wake County have their own from time to time. They’re subsidized, and thus about $40.

If you want compost “fast”, you have a couple of options as well.

I’m sure I’ve told you about my “worm bin” which is just a big Rubbermaid container stocked with red wiggler worms. It’s actually possible to use this indoors, and it’s great for kitchen scraps. This is what I currently use, and I’d be happy to share some worms.

There are also several lines of “compost tumblers” that are barrels on an axle that you can spin from time to time to keep it mixed. Any compost bin you use should be mixed periodically (turn it every week to finish it in a few months, or let it sit and it will take a year or so). The tumbler just makes it fast and easy, and keeps the compost off the ground where tree roots/vermin will invade.

I’m a fan of the Fifth Season stores (there’s one in Raleigh) and they have a couple of compost bin options from ~$35 – ~$180

Hope that wasn’t too much!

 

He ended up building a pretty solid looking cinder block bin with a hardware cloth base to house the worms outdoors.  It’s inexpensive, low profile, and should keep the tree roots out (for awhile at least).  I dropped off a container of red wigglers on Sunday, so we’ll see how they like their new home!

How do YOU compost?

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