Building Garden Compost Bins & A Hot Composting Station: Basic Principles and Designs for Beginners

I cover a build and design for compost bins and principles on setting up a hot compost station. These are built from pallets but you can build this design from scratch. Videos will follow on hot compost layering, water, covering and turning. One video at a time. Enjoy!

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[RootedInTx]

Gary, you are always putting out the best garden content. I cant Express how much I enjoy your channel. Thanks so much, cant wait to jump on this project.

[mariemarcum]

3 years later and this is still very useful. I finally have a home with space to build this. I just acquired some nice pallets. I’m going to add hardware cloth on the inside of my stalls to keep the compost material from sifting out. And yes that first piece of lumber you showed is a 2x3” (not a 1x3”).

[victorm]

I also used pallet for my compost bin. The void with in the pallet toward the the bottom of the pallet made a perfect rat home. A tip to remedy this issue is to remove the inside plank to illuminate the space all together.

[ksandhu]

I appreciate your way of explaining it

[susanmyer]

Made my husband watch this video and told him I was gonna start collecting pallets. He is not pleased. Hahaha He will build a system for me though just to shut me up. Thanks!!

[marilynm]

Boy, you sure are ambitious. I am tired just thinking about the work. What we will do for that wonderful compost! Good luck. Appreciate all the info you provide.

[MichaelJosephJr]

Gary I have the same type pallet bins. For the front sliding slats I permanently attached the bottom two. It give the entire rig much more stability. Then the slats above are removable. It's still easy access with the permanent lower boards. I never had to remove them anyway when turning or shoveling out. I did this cuz everything started shifting 2 years later and the slats didn't fit anymore. Now they should stay rigid. Just thought I'd share this.

[moundtd]

Thanks Gary good video as always some great tips Regards Dave (UK)

[psychorooks]

Man, I'd love to have that kind of room to work with. Maybe one day soon. Still, great info for future reference. Thanks for sharing.

[FubarKen]

I like your idea for the front of the bins. I use pallets also but just have a 4th pallet for the front I can take in and out.

[willow]

Awesome looking, clean
Love the channel to close off

[theelpydimension]

Great construction thanks for sharing!

[janwilliams]

Beautiful setup. I built mine this spring and they are almost exactly like yours. What I have found out though this year is that everything I have taken out of the garden to compost - as well as all kitchen scraps - has only filled up one of my bins half way. I get it almost to the top and within 3 or 4 days it sinks down and settles and I just keep adding to it. I don’t mind if it takes a year for mine to turn into compost as I am scheduling it to always be available for next year’s garden. Your garden is bigger than mine so I can see you using that much room. I only have 22 raised beds. But it looks really nice. One last thing I have found is that I didn’t need the boards in front to hold anything in. After I put in the greens -which I mulch up with my push mower and add it to the pile - then I add a layer of straw and water it down pretty good. It never comes out the front.

[bo_]

Gary when's the follow up video for browns/greens hot compost guide? If you can!
I'd love to learn about the nerdy stuff and best practices... even just an indoor talk!
Take the time you need, stay safe! ❤️

[jeanpauldupuis]

If you knock half an inch off each corner of each front panel slat, you will be able to rotate them in and out of position - much quicker and easier than guiding slats up or down the full height of the guide rails.

[billlyoliveman]

Blimey! The girlscouts cookies came on those pallets?!! They must be some heavy duty cookies! What are they made of, lead?! ;-)

[earlr]

I live on a remote Australian Island where there are no timber stores (only thousands of free pallets).
So although your design is good, I need to make everything (including the front closing) using pallets.

[imdanhoover]

i've always thought that composting is as much fun as actual gardening..something about holding that final product in your hand!.we have a 3 bin and i'm planning on making another before winter hits..are you going to keep it covered?

[sharonallen]

Gary I have watched this vlogs many times. I am in the process of making this compost setup. Question since this will be hot compost, are you afraid of the pallets catching on fire ?

[MrBraffZachlin]

1:43 you should consider aerating the compost piles so you can heep em high and not really have to turn em. also doubles the rate it composts and doubles the aerobic microbial life. all you need to do is before you put compost in those stations is make a pvc tube manifold and connect it to an airpump behind the startion. get one nice pump and have it aerate all those stations via pvc tubes. you can even use a super cheap solar panel to power the pump as they run on negligeable wattage