Kitchen Garden Forum

Reading the January issue of KG, I was intrigued by the double compost bin, very detailed plans and instructions. Couldn't find the cost of the materials though. Going by the cost of timber in my local D.Y.S shop I would suggest that the cost would come to nearer the national debt. My solution some years ago. Seven robust pallet boards, [to make a double bin] slab polystyrene between the inner and outer boards. Fronts held in place by removable double [top and bottom] roofing battens. Result a double bin that heat's up fast and compost much sooner.

I've always hankered after a couple of really robust wooden compost cages for the speed of composting & to help keep vermin at bay, but DIY in this household is at a pretty basic level. The wire cages we bought a year ago neither compost quickly nor keep the rats at bay. As Shallot Man says, to acquire decent wood to make something really robust & good looking needs a lot of money. Where's the best place to acquire old pallet boards?

Try freecycle, local businesses, delivery agents and keep your eyes open near building sites where pallets bricks came on tend to go in the skip.

Peter has it in one. You normally find them when you don't need them, they are all over the place. Most industrial sites have them.

My three-bay breeze block construction built on an aviary mesh base to keep rats out and covered with three pieces of old twin-wall perspex sheets are brilliant and won't rot like the wooden ones I had before. They are full of composting worms and allsorts of other interesting creatures, they get very hot, and make very good compost extremely quickly. I turn the full one into the adjacent empty one when I use the compost and the one that is being filled into the next one and they heat up almost instantly.

I've got a row of cold-frames along the back of them for shelter, and I'm not sure if any heat escapes, but I'm happy with the set up.

The breeze blocks and concrete etc. cost about the same as the sets of three wooden compost bins, but mine are totally rat proof and won't rot.