Composting station

 I finally got around to making a new compost bin and reorganizing our composting station.  And as you can see from the picture above, Marilyn, the compost maintenance supervisor, has already taken to it.  The old composting area was sad.  A two-bin system that was always full, and a variety of other bins to hold soil and materials waiting to compost.  The area was cramped, inefficient and not really well thought-out and designed.

The new system is 3 times the volume, and although the last one lasted us 12 years, the new one is much more solidly constructed.  I generally followed conventional plans for a 3-bin composter, but I made the frame of it using 4x4's and used half-lap and other joinery for stronger construction.

Obviously, the new bin is painted- this is for a variety of reasons:

1. I used a variety of different woods (all recycled and purchased from Home ReSource the best building materials re-use center on the planet), including 2x redwood decking, 5/4 cedar fence boards, and pressure treated 4x4's for the base.  So, to make it all look uniform, I painted it.
2. I also wanted to tie this compost bin into the color scheme of the other garden buildings like our greenhouse, tool closet and even the back of the shop (below)
3. Finally, I wanted this area to be a welcoming and inviting place for my wife to do the composting (she does really enjoy this- I am not making it up).

But, since I was not just building a compost bin- I was designing a station.  So, I wanted to accommodate all the tools, sifters and screens for composting.  I built a rack for the compost fork, and shovel, and lined the walls around the area with re-purposed hooks- hose bibs and knobs; apropos for the garden.  Hanging on one of the knobs (below) is my wife's favorite composting tool- a rake head, evidently very useful for screening.

One of the big improvements to the station is a sifter to fit on each one of the bins.  This is in addition to a screen that we use over a wheel barrow (hanging to the left of the compost bin).  The sifter is just a screen (you can see the red frame of the screen) with casters on the bottom that rides in a frame (the black thing below).  This frame fits over the bins- depending on which one you are using.

Here is a short video where you can see the sifter in action!

I am glad that I finally built this new composter- it has been on my annual garden project list for several years, and, for whatever reason, I never got around to building it. Though it is great to be able to finally cross it off the list, the most rewarding thing is that my wife is really excited about it, and she has a place that is organized and well-designed for composting fun.