I built it for $10 - the wall

Lowe's uses pieces of wood with a groove cut into it to hold metal bands off of items. Those pieces of wood gathered up and are put in a bin FREE TO A GOOD HOME. (funny, that!) I picked out 3x3 and 2x4 and built a "wall" 36" high and 12' long. I built it in 4' sections and then used a pressure treated 2x4 as a "spacer" to screw each section of wall into. Positioned the whole thing at the edge of the woods under a spruce tree, so it is out of the way but gets sun from noon to dark. You can see the spruce branches...

Behind the left section I stacked my bales of ProMix, perlite, sp. peat moss, and pine bark fines. Out of sight, but easy access.

Behind the right section I stacked every empty pot and container that normally cluttered up the place.

Behind the center, here's the whole reason for doing this -- the compost pile. 4 pallets, connected with hotwire fence wire looped through and twisted -- this SHOULD come apart later. Then I used 1/2" rabbit wire 36" tall, I folded the jagged edge back 6" to save my hands, then rolled out a LOT extra, cut again, folded again, then put the section inside the pallets. Held one edge in a corner, pushed the wire into the next corner so it folded, continued around without fastening to the pallets, when I ran out of wire, I used a very short piece of hotwire fence wire and ran it though at the top and twisted just to hold it in place.

I emptied a bunch of annual containers into the bottom and will add more as I go. I don't plan on turning it. I'm patient with it, but if I want to, it's simple to hook to the far pallet and pull it towards me to flip the pallet structure on its side, leaving a pile of compost to shovel out.

The pallets were wired with a loop of hotwire fence wire to the middle wall, just to steady everything.

The "WALL" is not fastened to the ground, but the ends have an angled piece of 2x4 as a brace.

The only money I spent was on pressure treated 2x4s. Everything else was here or scrap. Ten bucks. I am so pleased!

what a neat deal. that is primo repurposing... Thanks for the ideas.

bravo!

Way to score! Can't believe you've got all that hidden behind THE WALL!!!!

Wonderful!

This message was edited Oct 1, 2012 4:58 PM

Good job! Wood walls like that also come in handy here on the plains for blocking the wind off brittle plants like peppers. Maybe I need to visit Lowes and give a good home to some of those throw away boards..... Thanks for the idea!

Great idea, and attractive! If turning is too much, try stirring it. I found that was less labor intensive for me and still brought in enough O2. I used a small pitchfork and twisted and fluffed it up. Worked great on my compost pile.

Maybe borrow a post-hole digger some day when you want a lot of exercise.

I've seen gadgets sold for "pulling" vent holes into compost heaps. A 5-6 foot pole with folding "wings" near the tip.

You push or hammer the pole down into the compost and the wings fold back against the pole so there is less resistance.

As you pull it back out, the wings unfold and drag a several-inch wide slit into the compost. I imagine that several passes help make the slit into an open crevice.

I've also seen cork-screw-shape compost drillers that look like they would need Superman to pull them back out.

You might get the same effect with a series of lengths of rebar. Bend the end into a sharp Vee, and start with one that has a Vee only 1" wide. You should still be able to drive that down through compost. Pulling it out would be no harder than pulling the commercial one. On a second pass, maybe try to twist as you pull. Probably needs a handle bent on the top of the bar.

Then repeat the process with a second length of rebar, this one with a 2" Vee.

Maybe a third one would be desirable, with an even wider Vee or a twisted tip that pulls a wider channel.