The Best Homemade Compost Bin. Thirty years ago when I started vegetable gardening, I also decided to make a homemade compost bin, and settled on a design for a 55 gallon compost tumbler.
(Jumping ahead: this was not the Best Homemade Compost Bin Ever…) I spent about a week on the project, using an empty plastic phosphoric acid drum (with lid) that I got, believe it or not, from the local Coca-Cola bottling company for free. Building a Compost Bin. My own homemade compost bin is easy to assemble and disassemble and works with whatever size compost pile I have at a given time.
It is made of rough-sawn 1x12 hemlock boards, each 5 feet long. I cut the corners from both ends of the boards to create tabs. Composting: a guide to making compost at home, using compost tumblers, bins & other composters. ~ Activate your compost. 'Activators' can be added to your compost to help kick-start the process and speed up composting.
Common compost activator materials are: comfrey leaves, grass clippings, young weeds, well-rotted chicken manure. ~ Flying insects attracted to your compost? Small fruit flies, especially, are naturally attracted to the compost pile.