What is Compost?

• Compost is what you get when organic matter decomposes. This organic matter can include fruit and vegetable scraps, leaves, grass clippings, manure, straw, and nearly anything that once was a plant.
  
  Compost is used not so much to fertilize plants (although it can help in that area), but to condition the soil. Organic compost improves the soil's structure, attracts beneficial insects (such as earthworms), and helps the nitrogen in the soil release more slowly. You can never add too much compost to the soil.
  
  

Types of Composters

• Compost can be created simply by making a pile of debris in your yard. However, the debris will decompose slowly and the pile won't be very attractive. Other ways to compost include making bins of mesh or drilling holes all over an old garbage can.
  
  But if you want an attractive and faster way to compost, you'll want a tumbling composter. These are readily available at garden centers, but you can also build one yourself in a single afternoon.
  
  

How to Build a Tumbling Composter

• Find a food-grade barrel at a feed store or purchase two 20-gallon buckets and attach the opens ends together (creating a barrel shape) using stainless steel bolts. Choose a dark color, since this will make the barrel hotter and therefore you'll have compost sooner.
  
  Using masking tape, mark a rectangular opening on the side of the barrel, large enough to easily get both hands -- and compost -- in and out. Bore a 3/8-inch hole at all four corners of this rectangle.
  
  With a metal-cutting blade and a jigsaw, cut out the rectangle. File down the edges of the opening.
  
  Screw two pressure-treated wooden blocks just inside the opening, at the bottom sides. These will keep the door from falling inward. Screw another block to the outside of the opening, at the middle bottom; it will be the latch.
  
  To attach the door to the opening, use stainless-steel bolts to attach hinges to the barrel and the just-cut-out rectangle.
  
  To create a stand for the barrel, make two large Xs from 2-by-4s. Use stainless-steel bolts to fasten the Xs together. Connect the Xs together with a horizontal piece of wood and some bolts, then add diagonal pieces of wood as braces.
  
  To make a handle for turning the barrel, attach a piece of wood to one round end of the barrel, using screws or bolts. It should completely cross the end of the barrel, overlapping the sides by about 5 to 7 inches.
  
  Set the barrel on top of the stand and lubricate the wooden stand using ordinary bar soap.