We use a lot of torn up cardboard in our bin. I (or more precisely the gardener) tears it into pieces the size of a small plate and mixes it in with the grass clippings. I normally take off the plasticised parcel tape.
Yes, @BenCotto - it would have been easier in my grandad's day, when parcel tape was made of gummed brown paper... I can still remember what the glue tasted like...
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
I agree completely use the pallets as they are, we all use them on our Allotments & we have even made some "big bays" for communal composting with them. We used metal posts hammered in the corners to keep them upright and used landscape fabric to line them. Work a treat.
Use pallets as are. I drove 50x50 stakes in the front row and nailed pallets to stakes for increased strength and stability. Lined with old cushionfloor fixed with galv clout nails. Front 'gates' are simply tied closed with string to galv staples nailed top & bottom. Work a treat.
Thanks, @owd potter. Interesting that everyone's bins seem to work, lined or not... I'm less worried about exactly how to construct them now.
Stuff wants to rot down, the fine details of construction just vary the speed of the process, but it'll all rot down eventually even if it's just in a pile.
Yes indeed, @Hostafan1 . The enormous heap of grass cuttings I bunged behind a bush in November has shrunk to a small pile without any input from me...
Found a dead rat in the garden this afternoon. I can see I'll have to make the bins as inhospitable as possible.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Inspired by @Fire, here's an update to this thread.
Your photos, suggestions and experience were invaluable, so thanks to all who helped me with this. In early 2020 I built a 2-bay compost bin using 5 pallets fastened together with cable ties, initially lined with cardboard until it fell to bits, when it got incorporated into the compost. Then I lined it with some heavy gauge plastic, kindly discarded by the builders, which has worked well. We had some dark brown fence paint left over from our previous shed which helped disguise it a bit.
It works a treat. The only problem is that I need to build another couple, for the overflow... a job for this winter, I think.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Posts
Thanks for the support, @Allotment Boy. The only decision I have to make now, is where to build it.
I drove 50x50 stakes in the front row and nailed pallets to stakes for increased strength and stability.
Lined with old cushionfloor fixed with galv clout nails.
Front 'gates' are simply tied closed with string to galv staples nailed top & bottom.
Work a treat.
Found a dead rat in the garden this afternoon. I can see I'll have to make the bins as inhospitable as possible.
Your photos, suggestions and experience were invaluable, so thanks to all who helped me with this. In early 2020 I built a 2-bay compost bin using 5 pallets fastened together with cable ties, initially lined with cardboard until it fell to bits, when it got incorporated into the compost. Then I lined it with some heavy gauge plastic, kindly discarded by the builders, which has worked well. We had some dark brown fence paint left over from our previous shed which helped disguise it a bit.
It works a treat. The only problem is that I need to build another couple, for the overflow... a job for this winter, I think.