£0 Compost Bin — What Came Out After a Year of (Almost) Ignoring It
Built a bin, filled it with garden waste, didn’t touch it — here’s what came out.
This was the first compost bin I built here — pallets, breezeblocks, and some spare wood to hold it together. No money spent, no Pinterest-worthy angles — just something solid to chuck garden waste into.
What Went In
Chicken bedding (shavings + manure)
Kitchen veg scraps
Hedge clippings and garden weeds
Cardboard and paper
Leftovers from last year’s compost pile (tossed in at the base)
I tried to keep the greens and browns balanced, paying attention to the mix but just using regular stuff from around the garden and kitchen.
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What Came Out
After a full year of being left alone — no turning — I opened it up.
The top and outer layers were dry and mostly undecomposed. But once I got into the core, it was rich, dark, and well-broken down. It smelled good too — no bad odours, just that earthy compost scent.
I ran it through a mesh screen (built from more scraps), and what came out was decent stuff that filled 5 old compost bags. That will be left to mature until next year.
The chunkier bits and dry outer material? That’s gone into the Johnson-Su bioreactor experiment I’ve got running now.
Then I emptied the contents of the plastic bin into the now-empty pallet bin to start a new (turning) pile, and I’ll be adding a third bay soon.
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Where I'm At
This bin had already been used last year — the sieved final product was bagged up and left to mature. That older, finished batch is what I’m using in the garden this year.
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Next Up
What’s growing in the garden this summer
And a seed-starting comparison:
1. My standard potting mix recipe
2. Fresh screened compost added to the mix
3. Last year’s aged batch added to the mix
So please subscribe to keep up to date, I’ll also be posting on:
My household hot water breakdown and plumbing repair
Other DIY jobs
What I did wrong (and right) when I built my kids’ polytunnel