The Perfect Compost Bin !

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Published 2022-04-09
My PERFECT DIY Compost bin! This compost bin is 100% cedar for long life. The compost bin has a roof to keep out unwanted rains and prevent compost rot. The removable slats in front let me easily access my compost.

I make enough compost with this bin system to fill my beds with 1-2" of compost 2 times per year! This is how I built it.

IMPORTANT: Every time in this video when I say "one inch by one inch" I REALLY mean "two inches by two inches"..... I"m sorry. It happens a LOT!!!

Material I used:

2"x4" cedar boards I cut to 2x2 posts - www.lowes.com/pd/2-in-x-4-in-x-8-ft-Cedar-Lumber-C…

1"x6"x6' cedar fence pickets - www.homedepot.com/p/Outdoor-Essentials-1-in-x-6-in…

Roof Panel - www.homedepot.com/p/Suntop-26-in-x-8-ft-Rainforest…

Roof Panel Bracket - www.homedepot.com/p/Palruf-24-in-Horizontal-Plasti…

Roof Screws - www.homedepot.com/p/Woodtite-1-in-Fasteners-50-Pie…

Hinges - www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-4-in-Zinc-Plated-Heav…

All Comments (20)
  • Husband made this for me and I absolutely love it! We added hooks to hand our handle in the middle of the front and one on the side to hang our thermometer. Only modification was we had about 1.5 inch over hang of roofing material. 🎉🎉🎉🎉
  • I found your channel looking for advice on how to select grow lights because my seedlings were so leggy. It worked immediately, they turned right around. I'm zone 5b, so many weeks of frost still to come. Thank you for your videos. I love the simplicity, no silly music, or fake enthusiastic commercialism. Just a man in his garden passing on knowledge! Thanks again
  • @SunnyBermuda
    Great video! Found your channel by looking for grow lights, too. Been watching all your videos as I am getting into gardening. Thank you for the great content.
  • @roccotarulli2464
    I wanted to look for something to deal with all the oak leaves I get this time of year and I thought about composting them. Your compost bins look really easy to build. Thanks.
  • @gdnaylor
    Thanks so much Riley, I very much appreciate your efforts! Greg
  • Thanks for sacrificing your Masters viewing to teach us how to make this compost bin. 😀
  • Thank you so much for the video! Eventually going to make bins, but your instructions for the lid is exactly what ive been looking for my ducks nesting box lol
  • I built this compost bin over the weekend!! I LOVE it, thanks for sharing the information. I modified it a little as I went, but overall it's all your design! How do I share a photo??
  • Nice job Riley. I have a very similar setup. Mine is 4 bin made with pallets. But the climate here in Chicago is making mine a bit wobbly after 4 years. I'll build a new system soon but for the front slats I will permanently attach the bottom ones. That will add stability for me and I never remove the lower two anyway.
  • I looked at other people's you're the best one I seen I like the best I started online I ain't through with it yet I hope turned out like yours
  • @GK-ee7mw
    First off, thanks for the informative video! I'm excited to build this for my own yard. One small issue I noticed - you said to make the roof from one 26" x 8' panel For roof of 64" long by 40" wide, you'd need 3 pieces of 26"-wide panel (last one cut to 12" wide) and all would have to be the full 40" long, which comes out to 10 ft of panel. How did you do yours? Did you find a 10 ft piece of polycarbonate panel?
  • nice! You are a great instructor I love all the detail! I have wanted to build one of these and I found that your video is the best! I just subscribed and look forward to watching all of your videos I am a novice gardener but I want to do well this year so I am going to look to your videos for lots of tips. Loved the videos where you taught about trellises and growing zucchini vertically.I had given up on growing them because of squash bugs. I don’t use chemicals in my garden but maybe vertical growth would deter them a bit? Thank you for great videos!
  • @teter129
    Greeting from Florida. The termites don’t make short work of that system being its on the ground? I typically have to burn all wood with the Japanese Shouban method.
  • @gdnaylor
    Hi Riley, do you ever plant butternut squash - and if so, do you trim the vines to promote more fruit development?
  • @ronniejonsson
    I like your design, but a question......wouldn't cutting a cedar 2x4 down the middle yields 2x2s, not 1" posts? They look to be 2" square.
  • I like your design except that the ‘roof’ because it’s potentially a hazard if a gust of wind flipped it down unexpectedly. I know of people having such accidents and it can be serious, in fact, life changing!