I just completed my n
ew compost bins. The photo on the left shows the area they are located. n the background is my neighbor's small horse pasture and barn. Behind me was a Black Locust tree and a Hawthorn tree that I had to cut down to enable my tractor to get to and from the bins easily without hitting trees with my front end loader. I decided on a 3 bin system. The bin to the left will be for the newest pile, the center bin for half done compost and the third bin for finished compost. I wanted to do this as cheaply as possible so I decided to use posts cut from my property as well as making the walls from fairly straight limbs that I had laying around after the big wind storm of 2008. I needed 8 posts and found a 2 dead Black Locust trees about 
6 inches in diameter, which yielded 5 posts, and I cut down a Hackberry also about 6 inches in diameter which gave the final 3 needed posts. I placed them 18 inches into the ground and packed the ever abundant clay around them to firm them up. Yes, I dug them by hand. Each bin is 6 feet in length, 5 feet wide, and 3 1/2 feet deep. It took many more limbs than I initially thought it would which meant I had to go looking for additional "wall" material, but in the end I'm happy with what I ended up with. I only placed a front wall on the newest pile bin. I may add them to all the bins in the future, but I needed to finish the first bin so I could fill it with all the Sugar 
Maples leaves lying around my property. The front wall is removable and I made it by building a wooden fram from .5 inch x 2 1/4 inch stock I had lying around in the shed. Then I cut about 5 willow shoots from around my pond and stapled and nailed them to the frame. The front wall rests on screw in hooks and the top is held in place by hooks andf eyelets. It weighs about 30 pounds and is easy to remove. I have the first bin abou 2/3 full with leaves, twigs, some kitchen scraps and finished compost. The photo on the bottom shows the completed bins, without the front wall, on the night I finished them (11-10-2009). All in all the project cost me about 30.00 the bulk of which went to 3 inch exterior screws and then the hooks for the front of the left bin. They took several weekends for me and my Dad to complete and totals maybe 30 man hours for the two of us.
ew compost bins. The photo on the left shows the area they are located. n the background is my neighbor's small horse pasture and barn. Behind me was a Black Locust tree and a Hawthorn tree that I had to cut down to enable my tractor to get to and from the bins easily without hitting trees with my front end loader. I decided on a 3 bin system. The bin to the left will be for the newest pile, the center bin for half done compost and the third bin for finished compost. I wanted to do this as cheaply as possible so I decided to use posts cut from my property as well as making the walls from fairly straight limbs that I had laying around after the big wind storm of 2008. I needed 8 posts and found a 2 dead Black Locust trees about 
6 inches in diameter, which yielded 5 posts, and I cut down a Hackberry also about 6 inches in diameter which gave the final 3 needed posts. I placed them 18 inches into the ground and packed the ever abundant clay around them to firm them up. Yes, I dug them by hand. Each bin is 6 feet in length, 5 feet wide, and 3 1/2 feet deep. It took many more limbs than I initially thought it would which meant I had to go looking for additional "wall" material, but in the end I'm happy with what I ended up with. I only placed a front wall on the newest pile bin. I may add them to all the bins in the future, but I needed to finish the first bin so I could fill it with all the Sugar 
Maples leaves lying around my property. The front wall is removable and I made it by building a wooden fram from .5 inch x 2 1/4 inch stock I had lying around in the shed. Then I cut about 5 willow shoots from around my pond and stapled and nailed them to the frame. The front wall rests on screw in hooks and the top is held in place by hooks andf eyelets. It weighs about 30 pounds and is easy to remove. I have the first bin abou 2/3 full with leaves, twigs, some kitchen scraps and finished compost. The photo on the bottom shows the completed bins, without the front wall, on the night I finished them (11-10-2009). All in all the project cost me about 30.00 the bulk of which went to 3 inch exterior screws and then the hooks for the front of the left bin. They took several weekends for me and my Dad to complete and totals maybe 30 man hours for the two of us. 
