An Easy Way to Create a Composting Bin

Composting is an easy, earth-friendly, inexpensive means of creating your own fertilizer for backyard gardens and flowerbeds. It's extremely nutrient-rich... it is made up of the waste from all of the nutritious foods you eat, isn't it? It makes sense to re-use what we already eat to grow new foods that are just as nutritious, doesn't it? Well, let's get started.

Making your own compost pile is easy enough; simply section off a small square of your yard and put some inexpensive chicken wire fencing around it. This method is obviously simple, but I find that it's just as simple, and much more tidy, to use a container for composting.

By purchasing an extra-large Rubbermaid container with a secure lid, you can create your own bin in minutes. Drill a few holes in both the bottom of the bin and the lid for drainage and then add some fresh dirt and a few handfuls of dry leaves or shredded up newspaper. That's it... now you have your very own composting container. We have ours stored in the furthest corner of our yard away from the house.

To make your own fertilizer, simply save scraps of leftover foods, such as eggshells, fruit and vegetable cores and peels, leftover rice and pasta, stale dry cereal, crackers and potato chips, coffee grounds and the filter too! You can even shred up your junk mail or paper towel and toilet paper rolls and toss it into your composting container! Also, save your dryer lint, it can also be added. After you add your food/paper scraps, simply mix your fertilizer until all of the food is covered in dirt.

There are some things that shouldn't be added to a compost pile or bin. Milk and meat are things I won't mess around with, and limes are too acidic for the pile. Obviously things that do not biodegrade, like plastic or metal, shouldn't be added. If your pile starts to smell like anything other than fresh dirt, you don't have the right combination of leaves/dirt and food.

Once you're ready, you can start using your homemade fertilizer in your very own garden. It's absolutely wonderful for enriching your garden, helping your plants and produce to grow nice and strong. It feels so good to know that the excess food and paper waste your household was creating is going towards maintaining your gardens and not into a landfill somewhere.