How to make a compost pit. How to make a compost pit with your own hands - manufacturing options

Organic fertilizers are not all equally available. It is possible to receive manure in an amount sufficient to fertilize the plot only if it is possible to keep livestock. Otherwise, manure can only be bought. The situation is much simpler with compost. Having built a compost pit on the site, you can organize the receipt of an excellent high-quality, high-grade fertilizer. In addition, properly prepared compost excludes the ingress of helminth eggs, which are often found in manure.

What you need for a compost pit

Compost is a product obtained from the natural processing of plants. For a small standard plot, a pit with a volume of one and a half square meters is quite suitable. A set of tools necessary for preparing a pit is available on the site of every self-respecting gardener - this is a bayonet shovel, covering material (for example, an old film) and a hacksaw for wood.

To strengthen the edges of the dug hole, boards, pieces of slate are suitable, you can use bricks. The compost should be placed in a secluded place on the site and in such a way that the wind does not carry the aromas of the rotting mass to you. You should not arrange a structure near fruit trees - they may die from such a neighborhood.

How to set up a compost pit

Make markings on the ground for the future compost pit and remove the sod around the entire perimeter using half a shovel. It is not necessary to dig deeply - this will lead to a constant accumulation of rainwater, which will slow down the decay processes. Secure wooden pegs around the edges of the sod you removed. They are hammered into the depths, after which boards are nailed to them. It will turn out to be something like a sandbox, but you need to fill it not with sand, but with plant residues.

For compost, you can use cut grass, leaves, tops, rotten roots. Raw fruits, grains, twigs, sawdust, and even small pieces of paper will do. Bones, potato tops, animal excrement and inorganic waste should not be thrown into compost.

When filling, the main thing is to dump plant residues in as much as possible, but they should not be rammed, because you will get silage. When stacked correctly, the compost will rise slightly above the edges of the boards. If there are no extra boards on the site, you can simply form a bunch and line it around the edges with pieces of slate or rubber mats. In dry weather, the future compost must be watered.

In conclusion, the pit must be covered with a film or other covering material - this will help create a greenhouse effect. The process of natural recycling of the contents of the compost pit will take one and a half to two years.

For any gardener, compost is the best and most affordable fertilizer, because it can be prepared on your own using organic waste.

There are many options for preparing a compost heap, I must say that the imagination of our summer residents knows no bounds. A good friend of mine once said that she does not throw anything out of the plot, everything goes into action and feeds the earth.

Passing the plots, you can see a wide variety of examples of filling in a compost heap or pit, a variety of options are used, ranging from wooden boards, ending with parts from furniture, a fine mesh netting, slate and metal sheets.

In order to competently prepare high-quality compost, it is not enough to dump everything that comes to hand in one place, you need to know some rules, which we will get acquainted with in this article. Experienced gardeners shared their skills in composting, based on their experience this material was written.

We know that during the summer season, a large amount of waste from organic waste accumulates, which includes food residues, and weeds and mowed grass, which are constantly removed from the beds and lawns.

All this waste must be disposed of in one specific place, in a compost heap, which in two to three years will give you a high-quality product in the form of excellent fertilizer.

Along the way, this will help get rid of unnecessary plant materials, your site will be clean and tidy, the waste will not have to be taken far outside the garden.

The decomposition of plant waste naturally occurs for about 20 months, but if the process is artificially accelerated, then it is possible to achieve the result in three months.

What you need to know about compost

Nutrient fertilizer is able to reach the condition if it is warm and humid. To prepare a place for its "production", to provide a bunch of all the necessary requirements - the main task of the gardener. Enough oxygen will not produce a stinking pile of waste, but a true universal fertilizer.

Make sure that the main part of the heap is above ground level. So the contents will be perfectly warmed up, provided with air. It will be convenient to water and loosen it. The depth of the pit should be no more than half a meter, and the surface part up to a meter. In width, the ideal parameters will be: 1.5X2 m.
If there is a source from which water is used for drinking: a well, a well, a spring, a territorial gap of at least 20 m should be taken into account. For greater confidence, when the site slopes, make a hole lower.
Close up a pile of waste should be away from the house or recreation area, since an unpleasant smell will spoil the air and mood not only for the owners of the site, but also for the neighbors. You need to approach this issue responsibly, and choose a place that would suit everyone.
To prevent the pile from drying out, do not place it in a sunny area. It is good if it was in partial shade, then the moisture necessary for the decay process will not quickly evaporate.
In no case should the pit be near fruit-bearing trees, this is fraught with their death.

Important! The bottom of the pit should not be made of any material: slate, iron, film. The compost heap should have an earthen bottom, so moisture from the ground will rise up and the contents will not dry out. Any of the listed materials are suitable for the walls.

What can be added to the compost heap

Good, high-quality compost will come out when you put the following components in a pile:

fallen leaves, needles, plant roots and small branches and stems;
cut grass and weeds;
manure and droppings that are more than two years old;
cleaning vegetables, fruits, berries, peels of any fruit;
leftovers from food, coffee and tea;
hay, straw, sawdust and other small waste from wood;
wood ash;
waste paper, cardboard.

Important! Grass, which is laid in large quantities, is best covered with soil.

What is contraindicated for a compost pit:

any items of inorganic origin made of plastic, polyethylene, metal and synthetics;
bones;
stems from potatoes and tomatoes, due to late blight infection;
large branches and ripe weed seeds.

Compost heap making options

There are a large number of options, and each gardener chooses the most acceptable and effective for himself.

A simple pile of layers of waste

First, decide on a place, and start laying organic matter in layers, alternating it with manure and food waste. After the slide grows one meter, make depressions in it, into them you should pour a special liquid for the quickest maturation of the compost.

Such preparations are sold in horticultural centers and shops, they contain bacteria that, when they enter the organic environment, begin to work and process it.

If you do not forget to loosen the waste, then the maturation of the compost will come in three months. That is, having laid a heap in the spring, by the end of summer you will be with compost.

For those who do not want to build a permanent compost facility, this is ideal. It is desirable that there are several such places, then you can achieve constant replenishment of your site with fertilizer.

A hole dug in the ground

In this case, everything is also simple. A hole is dug in the soil, the size of which depends on your appetite. Branches, remnants of bark, straw, hay are placed on the bottom, then a layer consisting of remnants of food and plants is laid. Then a layer of manure, and a repetition of the vegetative layer.

In such a structure, the temperature will not reach high rates, so the pit is covered with a film. This option is suitable for those who are not in a hurry, since the compost will not mature soon. But there are also advantages - a simple device and a small area.

Box of bars, slate, boards or metal

This method is used by many gardeners, and is 100% justified. However, the preparation of the box will require small material costs and some effort for its arrangement.

First of all, at the site of the future compost pit, soil is removed, about 50 cm.
Bars or pegs should be driven in along the entire perimeter of the recess.
Next, a fence is made, for which any material is suitable: boards, bars, boards, mesh, polycarbonate, metal sheets, slate of any shape. The main thing is that the material does not bend or break under the weight of waste.
The height above the soil surface should correspond to one meter. This height will allow you to loosen and mix the contents without any problems.
From above, the structure is closed with a film or plywood sheet.

Wooden box with door

For convenience, you can build a door in the box, at a distance of 50 cm from the ground. This option allows you to select the finished compost from the bottom, while the top layer settles.

Ease of use, as well as the ability to take the required amount of finished fertilizer - these are the main advantages of boxes in sliding or lifting doors.

A pit made of concrete or brick

This design is durable, it will require significant costs and labor. The area for the compost heap is marked out taking into account the impossibility of transferring to another place.

The soil is selected to a depth of 70-80 cm;
It is necessary to make formwork around the entire perimeter of the pit;
After the concrete is mixed, it is poured into the formwork, 10-12 cm thick;
Wooden formwork is removed as the concrete dries;
The concrete pit is filled with waste and covered with a membrane or wooden board.

Important! It is very important to have two or more sections in each of the proposed structures. One will serve as a compartment for fresh waste, and the other will be intended for last year's compost. Thus, you will have a nutritious substrate for plants and soil every year.

Other compost heap options

The most advanced gardeners, whose funds make their work much easier, purchase ready-made biocontainers for the production of compost. They use preparations with accelerated action for the processing of organic matter based on special bacteria: Baikal EM -1, Kompostin, Embionik.

Many gardeners add Californian worms, these creatures are extraordinarily efficient and each works like a mini-composting plant.

Remember, complete compost requires air, water, heat and clean organic matter. Only in the presence of these components will you receive high-quality and free fertilizer.

Before starting the construction of the compost pit at the summer cottage, think about whether you need it and for what purposes. Such a structure performs the functions of utilizing household organic waste. A compost pit will also come in handy in order to produce the fertilizer necessary for the garden and vegetable garden, in case you are not going to plant siderats on your land plot to fertilize the soil.
You can, of course, put the waste together with the remnants of vegetables and fruits, in bags, and then take them to the city dumpsters. But you shouldn't do this - it's environmental pollution. If you build in a summer cottage compost pit, you can recycle the vast majority of organic waste into a wonderful nutrient mixture for your plants called compost. And time will not be wasted on waste disposal.

Purpose of the compost pit

Each compost pit has a set of corresponding design features that depend on the needs for which it will be used. If you don't know where to throw your garbage, you might be interested in a pleasant bonus that you can get in a few years - valuable compost. Then you need to arrange a compost pit using the appropriate layout.

Getting and using compost.

If you want to quickly prepare fertilizer from improvised materials, which can serve as leaves, mown grass, manure, then the compost pit will have a different design. There are some requirements to be met when setting up compost pits.

How to set up and use a compost pit?

When choosing a location compost pit try to take into account some rather important points:

Arrange a pit at a distance of at least 25-30 meters from sources of drinking water - wells, wells, streams or other bodies of water.

In suburban areas with a slope, the pit is placed at a level below the well.

Observance of such precautions is necessary because otherwise rotted waste may end up in drinking water, which is dangerous and undesirable.

When building a pit, consider the wind rose so as not to poison yourself and your neighbors with unpleasant odors.

If you place the compost pit in an open, sunny area, the contents will overheat. This will stop composting. Therefore, the best option would be to equip the pit on an area shaded by tree crowns.

The best place for a compost pit is the corner of the land plot adjacent to a fence or blank wall.

It is also necessary to determine which waste is placed in the compost pit, and which must not be thrown into it.

Waste that can be used to fill the compost pit

Raw vegetables, fruits, berries, tea, cereals, coffee, cleaning residues;
Hay, mown grass and straw;
Foliage;
Branches, tree bark, roots of shrubs and trees, which need to be chopped a little;
Weeds;
Wood ash;
Needles;
Napkins, cardboard, paper bags (paper must be natural) - all this is crushed;
Unpainted wood waste;
Second-year manure of herbivores.

How can you fill a compost pit at a summer cottage.

What is forbidden to fill the pit?

Bones;
Experiments with pets, because they can have helminth eggs;
Insect pests and their eggs;
Plants affected by diseases (tops of tomatoes with late blight, pumpkin and those with powdery mildew, and others);
Plants from land plots that have been treated with herbicides;
Inorganic waste, which can be in the form of plastic, iron, rubber or synthetic fabrics.

Any waste that cannot be composted is best incinerated or disposed of as excreta.

Rules for sorting household waste for use in a compost pit.

Organic waste is handled by microorganisms and earthworms. Do not insulate all walls of the compost pit that are below ground level, because if you dig a hole in the ground at a depth of 50 cm and then enclose it with impermeable material, worms and microorganisms will not enter it. In this case, you need to share them independently.

As you can see from the above, the rules cannot be called complicated, but they must be followed.

Setting up a compost pit or heap

The most important thing when setting up a compost pit is to ensure good moisture and friability in case you want a good quality composting process. There are no specific recommendations on this matter.

Arrangement of a compost pit at a summer cottage.

To maintain the moisture content of the compost heap, it can be watered regularly or covered with a film that will create a steam effect. The looseness of the structure of the contents of the compost heap is maintained by the fact that it is periodically broken up with a conventional pitchfork, or materials with different densities are laid in layers.

Optimal dimensions of the compost pit

Width - no more than 1.5 meters;
Length - up to 2 meters;
The maximum height is 1.5 meters;
Go into the ground no more than 0.4 meters.

There are several different compost pit structuresthat can match the preferences of any hosts.

Compost pit with two sections

It takes about 2 years to re-heat and compost organic waste, unless you use the services of additional effective microorganisms along with those present in the soil at your site. In order to make the use of the pit more convenient, a two-section structure is built:

Fresh waste is put into the first section;
The second section contains waste that has been composted since last year.

Prepared in the second section compost carried out and laid out in the beds, where they want to improve and saturate the earth with useful substances. The compost pit can be fenced off from all sides, making it in the form of a box, but only use material that allows free air access.

Wooden box for arranging a compost pit.

The box can be made of wooden picket fences, which are nailed with a small distance between them. In this case, the contents of the pit will not rot and will not smell unpleasant. Such a compost pit can be built independently in just 1-2 days - the duration of the work depends on the material chosen for the fence.

Compost pit with free access from the bottom of the structure:

Such a pit will perfectly replace the first option, because it does not require breaking into sections. Shield the pile 30 cm from the ground. At the bottom there is an accumulation of finished compost. If necessary, it is easily selected with a shovel and is used to fertilize the garden.

Building such a pit is very convenient and little hassle. Constantly, when the compost is reached from the bottom, the contents of the heap sinks lower, and occupies the vacant space, and is simultaneously saturated with oxygen. No special loosening and throwing is needed.

Compost heap equipment

Not all summer residents love the artificial creation of unnecessary complications. The best way out of this situation is to do nothing, in which nothing is digged, not fenced in, not divided. Only a certain place is selected, where organic waste is deposited, gradually forming a heap.

Food waste for the compost pit.

If desired, this pile is watered with EM preparations, or covered with an opaque film to speed up the composting process. If you have nowhere to rush, then you should not cover the pile - its contents will be reprocessed on its own, it only takes time.

Using plastic containers and barrels

Plastic containers for composting are convenient for those who do not spare money and want their compost pit to look presentable. The container is installed in any convenient place, since there is no risk of contamination of drinking water due to the tightness of the container. In addition, the tank has special ventilation to prevent water from stagnating.

Using plastic drums to make a compost pit.

When using this option, you need to know that it is necessary to use drugs that accelerate the decomposition of organic waste, or to add earthworms to the pit.

Self-construction of a compost pit

An example is a self-equipped compost pit in one of the summer cottages. If the structure is fenced on all sides, and has a height of one and a half meters, its contents must be shaken periodically, but this is a very inconvenient task. Therefore, it was decided to arrange two heaps, or rather, one heap on two sides.

after choosing a good place - the corner of the site near the fence itself, organic residues were put into the corner. It is very good if an alternation of grass, manure and earth is made. First, before the formation of a heap, a place for it is laid by branches of trees and shrubs.

Build a compost pit with your own hands.

When the heap reaches 1 meter in height, deep holes are made (several pieces), into which the EM preparation is poured (it can be "Oksizin", "Emochki", "Bokashi"). On the advice of experts, you can cover the compost pile with an impermeable film - this will maintain constant humidity and temperature in it, but not everyone does this. When covered with foil, the compost will become ready in 2-3 months, and composting of uncovered waste takes at least six months or a year.

You don't need to use EM drugs. Californian worms or prospector worms will do a great job. However, the use of worms has its drawbacks. Worms love heat, so they don't work during the colder months of the year. And it is enough for microorganisms to raise the temperature in the compost heap to only + 4 ° С.

It is necessary to water the pile with a hose during dry times. If you need to obtain ready-made compost for transferring it to the beds, you can transfer the upper part of the heap to another place and select the ready-made humus accumulated at the bottom of the heap. After the humus runs out, waste is thrown over this place again.

It occurs to some summer residents to spread plastic wrap on the ground when arranging a compost heap, on which they then dump organic waste. They make such a design, believing that in this way there will be no leaching of useful elements into the soil. However, they are wrong, this cannot be done for the following reasons:

By isolating the base of the compost heap from the ground, conditions are created that cause moisture to quickly evaporate from the heap. At the same time, moisture does not rise from the ground, despite the fact that even on hot days, thanks to a natural mechanism, moisture must rise from the depths of the earth upwards using special capillaries.

If the pile is isolated from the ground, it prevents the humus from leaching out of the compost. Mineral fertilizers are washed out, since trace elements are combined with organic substances and are constantly in the top layer of the soil.

But these properties are quite convenient for use in vegetable gardens - neither rain nor downpour is terrible. And when limiting minor leaks that may still occur, add a 10 cm layer of peat, which perfectly solves these problems: prevents the leakage of nutrients into the ground. Peat also allows groundwater to rise in the heap.

Requirements for a proper compost pit

If, after reading the article, you still have questions about building the right compost pit, get advice - don't build it at all. Why?

Extra and pointless work can be considered the work of moving grass and other organic waste from one place to another. When composting, carbon dioxide vapors are formed - this is an indispensable plant nutrition, which is lost on a heap, in parallel, acting on the nerves of you and your neighbors with an unpleasant smell.

Proper arrangement and use of the compost pit.

You may be called an eccentric, but it is better to lay organic waste directly on the beds, where they are perfectly melted and do not emit unpleasant odors. In addition, microorganisms will multiply in them right on the beds, earthworms will crawl, which will appreciate such an abundance of work for them. The cut grass can be used as mulch. Chop and lay in paths in the aisles of the branches, and scatter the cleaning of fresh vegetables and fruits in the garden.

This will allow:

Save moisture in the beds;
Feed the plants with carbon dioxide;
Do not allow weeds to germinate in the beds;
Prepare compost in places where it is needed;
Prevent the leaching of humus;
Reduce workload.

The proposed above work on the implementation of organic and food waste is simple, does not require additional skills or efforts.

Every experienced gardener knows that in order to improve the crop, you need to fertilize the soil with compost. It will be much easier to save money on the purchase of fertilizer if there is a do-it-yourself compost pit on the site, which is not difficult to do. In a private home, a sufficient amount of organic waste is accumulated, suitable for the formation of compost. Thanks to fertilization, sandy soil will retain moisture better, and clayey - it will become much crumbly. Below are the main recommendations for the construction of a pit, as well as what needs to be put into a structure for a high-quality formation.

How to choose a seat

Before deciding on the location of the structure, it is important to think over all the nuances. Do not forget about the water table, as the fertilizer should not come into contact with them. Dig a ditch at a level lower than the well. There must be a distance of at least 25-30 m between the well, the reservoir and the prepared ditch.

The structure should be in the shade, and not under the scorching rays of the sun. In the second case, decay will stop, and the humus will simply begin to dry out. It is important to equip a compost pit near the fence in the shade or near the house. The building should be located away from the neighboring house so that sometimes aromas that appear do not reach them.

Simple pit

In the process of arranging the most common compost pit, you will need to dig a depression in the ground 60-100 cm wide and 50 cm deep, 200 cm long.At the bottom of the ditch, spread leaves, weeds and other plant residues from the garden. Then the remnants of food waste are poured into the recess and again covered with various weeds. A similar procedure is repeated with the formation of each layer, since with this technology flies and stench will not appear. The compost pit will look much more neat if you enclose the recess with a wooden side around the perimeter.

It will be much easier to count on quality fertilizer if you periodically water organic residues. Do not forget to also mix the compost with a pitchfork, covering it with plastic on top.

Closed do-it-yourself compost pit

Before deciding on one of the types of structures, you need to understand in more detail what compost pits are. In addition to an open ditch, you can also choose a closed structure. Making the structure will take more time, but it is considered more practical. The pit consists of two sections, where one section is for new raw materials, and the other for old compost.

It is very important, before making a closed-type compost pit on the site, to think over the design scheme and not forget about the cover. The process of preparing a structure involves the following stages:

Level the area where the structure will be located by removing the top layer of the earth.
Prepare the ditches in the form of a rectangle. Width - 1.5-2 m, depth - 70 cm, length - up to 3 m.
Make the walls when using concrete, they should be 10 cm thick. When arranging a compost pit with your own hands, make sure that the walls are 30 cm higher than the level of the pit;
Place either a metal cover on top of the structure. It will also be possible to complement the structure with a wooden cover. In the latter case, drill some holes for ventilation.

Slate Compost Pit

This design option is considered very convenient to use. Slate is a fairly durable material in which it is convenient to store humus. When making a box from slate, first take all measurements and think over where it will be located, and also think over the number of sections.

Before making a slate compost pit, you need to dig a small rectangular depression in the ground. After that, make supports at the corners of the ditch, using boards or metal pipes. Lay out slate sheets along the contours of the ditch to form a symmetrical rectangle. If necessary, use slate to divide the structure into two or three compartments.

Regardless of the option for making a compost pit with your own hands, you need to remember a few rules for the rapid formation of fertilizer. Remember to moisten organic residues with water and add composting agents with live bacteria.

Wooden compost bin

It will be easier to prepare a comfortable compost pit with your own hands if you pay attention to this design. The wooden box implies the presence of three sections: the first is for the receipt of waste, the second is for turning over the humus, the third is for storing the ripe fertilizer. During the manufacture of the fixture, wooden planks are required.

The process of making a box involves the following steps:

Prepare 8 pieces of wood. Apply engine oil or tar to the bottom to prevent rotting wood.
Bury the posts in the ground. If desired, attach 4 bars to the fence so as not to dig an additional hole under them and do not make the back of the box.
Make partitions in the drawer by attaching boards to the pegs. Small gaps should form between the boards for free air access.
When decorating the first two compartments, sheathe the pegs with boards to the middle, since then it will be more convenient to attach the doors to the structure from above.
In the process of decorating the third compartment, nail one small board, this section will be the largest with one massive door.
Install crossbars to form baffles, back and end.
Attach the doors, they will act as a cover. Install two small and one large door on the front of the drawer.

The wooden box will not decompose and become part of the compost if the boards are pretreated. Choose a non-toxic treatment in the store that will protect the wood from moisture and insects.

Regardless of how long the compost pit should be and how long humus will form, do not forget to paint the wooden boards.

Paint the surface in two coats. Choose the color of your preference, the main thing is that it fits perfectly into the landscape. At the final stage, install the latches and handles.

If you are at a loss as to whether you need a bottom at the compost bin, but want to install the structure for several years, then consider a concrete bottom or make it out of plastic. Lay concrete on top with drainage so that the process of humus formation is as efficient as possible.

Tire compost pit

This design option is considered budgetary and at the same time easy to manufacture. If you have old tires in your house, then feel free to move on to making the structure. When preparing the structure, use 4-6 tires. Before making a compost pit with your own hands, cut out the inner diameter of the tires to increase the size of the future structure.

Place the tires on top of each other and fill in the already prepared waste in the middle of the structure, then place the reinforcement in the center (2-3 units). With its help, sometimes move the layers so that oxygen flows to the lower layers of humus. By the onset of autumn, the entire structure will be filled. Leave the compost in a tire cylinder until spring. In the springtime, the contents will settle, and you can remove the tires by extracting the finished humus. Then repeat the procedure for building a compost pit.

DIY compost: manufacturing options

It will be much easier to count on high-quality humus if you not only prepare the correct design, but also learn how to sort the waste. High-quality fertilizer will be obtained from organic waste such as:

rotten fruits and vegetables;
needles, straw, leaves, branches and roots of trees and plants;
coffee grounds and tea leaves;
manure;
small pieces of paper and newspaper.

It is important to understand not only what can be thrown into the compost pit, but also what waste is not suitable for the formation of humus. This category includes the following products:

tops from tomatoes and potatoes;
bones;
tops treated with chemicals;
excrement of domestic animals, dangerous insects (beetles);
synthetic waste;
coal ash.

Thanks to the arrangement of the compost pit, you can count on free and completely natural fertilization. Choose the type of construction, taking into account your budget and capabilities.

Compost from wooden pallets - video

If you have a decent plot of land, you still need to fertilize it from time to time. So why not use quality compost for these purposes? No, we do not suggest that you buy it with delivery to your personal plot. This pleasure is not cheap. It is much easier to independently produce this useful fertilizer on your own land. All the conditions for this are already there - it remains to establish the system. You can combine business with pleasure: clean the area of \u200b\u200bunnecessary waste and produce selected compost. Let's find out how you can build a compost pit yourself and try to avoid mistakes.

What are the benefits of a compost pit?

On a plot of land, compost pits are used to store waste, surplus products. Subsequently, they decompose and turn into a fairly high quality fertilizer. If you build a compost pit at your favorite summer cottage with your own hands at the beginning of the season, ready-made, incredibly useful fertilizer will be waiting for you in the fall. The average compost “ripening” time is three months. Of course, provided that the composter is made correctly and the pit has been given proper attention. Otherwise, the decomposition process may take 1-2 years.

Compost pit construction standards

To build a good and reliable home, you need a thoughtful design. The requirements for a compost pit are not so strict, but they are there too. Try to provide a regular supply of heat, oxygen and moisture to speed up the maturation process. Follow these rules:

The pile should rise above the ground, and not be level with or below the ground. This is really important, because in this case the heap warms up much better, it is much more convenient to water and loosen it. We advise you to dive 45-50 cm, but leave the barriers about a meter. An ideal compost pit with your own hands is 1.5 meters wide and 2 meters long.
Keep in mind that if there is at least one water source on the territory, it must be 25 meters or more from the compost pit. If the site has a certain slope, the pit is always constructed below the source. Otherwise, the water in it will cease to be drinking.
The compost pit in the country is located at some distance from the living quarters or gazebo. You do not want to greet the morning with an unpleasant smell or grill barbecue in the yard, inhaling completely different "aromas"?
It's great if there is a big tree on the site. For compost, it is always recommended to choose a place that is in partial shade. This will protect the pit from drying out quickly.
You should choose the size of the pit with your own hands taking into account the volume of garbage that is in the country, and it is planned to be introduced in the next two years.
Finnish technology compost pit fences should be high enough for easy loosening and compost collection.

Never make the bottom of slate, do not cover it with rubber or metal. These materials prevent the soil from rising up, but the compost will dry out regularly. The bottom is made of earth, the walls are covered with any of the available materials.

Diagram of a ventilated compost bin

What is allowed to be thrown into the compost pit and what is prohibited?

Building a composter with your own hands is half the battle. To get really high-quality fertilizer, you need to know what you can't put in the pit, and what you can.

To achieve maximum efficiency, you can safely lay the following types of waste:

Bark and leaves, shredded branches.
Grass, dried weeds.
Long-quail manure, droppings of birds and other domestic animals.
Any fruits and vegetables, as well as their cleaning.
Leftover tea.
Small sawdust, shavings, straw.
Ash left after burning wood.

Any video about the construction and further use of such structures will confirm that ash and even paper in any form can be placed in the compost pit: cardboard, napkins. When laying fresh grass, especially when it comes to a sufficiently thick layer, the decomposition process takes a year. To speed it up, we advise you to sprinkle the grass with soil.

Compost filling scheme

Never mortgage:

Bones and very thick branches. They rot for a long time.
Inorganic products. In particular, these include rubber and polyethylene, metal and plastic, synthetics.
Tomato tops, since it is often infected with late blight.
Plants that have previously been treated with chemicals.

Now you know for sure that you should not put in a compost pit under any pretext.

Popular ways to create

At a compost pit with your own hands, all manufacturing options can be divided into several types. Let's list them.

Regular waste heap

Preparing this type of heap is not difficult. All you need to do is choose the most suitable place for placing the compost heap. Then gradually stack the waste. If possible, they are laid in layers. For example, food scraps can be alternated with straw, green grass, and dung.

As soon as the height reaches a meter, you need to make 3-4 depressions and pour compost liquid inside. It significantly speeds up the process, so the first compost will be ready in three months.

The above option is one of the fastest ways to get compost at the lowest cost.

All you need to create a compost heap is a wheelbarrow and a shovel.

Classic pit

One of the manufacturing options is to dig a small square-shaped hole in the ground. Cover your version of the hole with branches and hay at the bottom, as well as bark. Next, you put food and vegetable waste. The temperature inside will not be very high, so it is recommended to immediately cover with plastic.

Note that this is the least successful of all. Firstly, such a pit warms up much worse. Secondly, the temperature in it is not always high. But it has a small area and is easy to arrange.

Classic compost pit

Building a compost box made of wood

How to make a compost pit correctly so that the construction is inexpensive and practical? For this you can use bars, sheets of metal with slate. The pit making process is as follows:

You peel off the top layer with a thickness of about 35-40 centimeters.
Next, drive in the pegs around the perimeter.
You will need to install a fence around the pit. You can make it from pallets, use wood blocks, boards and shields. It is allowed to use other materials: flat and corrugated slate, polycarbonate, metal sheets.
The height of the fence is no more than one meter. Otherwise, even with a large growth, it will be inconvenient for you to mix the compost.
The structure is covered with plywood or foil. Compost warms up perfectly, so this design is considered optimal in all areas.

A very original version is the construction of a box made of wood. The lower edges of the structure do not reach the surface by 25-30 centimeters. Boards and other materials are also attached at a certain distance from the ground. Below, the compost matures several times faster, since it is laid much earlier. The finished fertilizer is picked up from the bottom, the heap gradually goes down. The main plus is that there is no need to loosen the pile, because you will always have the opportunity to get the right amount of compost.

Compost box with pull-out wall

Concrete pit

Perhaps the most reliable and durable option that will serve you for more than a dozen years. The arrangement of the structure is as follows. After choosing a suitable building site (about 2 by 3 meters), you will need to select a soil of about 60-80 cm. Next, you build formwork 10 cm thick around the perimeter, mix the concrete solution and pour it into the formwork. As soon as the solution hardens, the formwork must be removed. We lay the waste in layers one by one, cover it with wooden boards or foil on top.

Despite the fact that this method is one of the most costly, in terms of efficiency it certainly has no equal. It is advisable to immediately divide the compost structure into two sections. In one of them, you will put this season's waste, in the other, the compost from last year will decompose.

The compost pit can also be replaced with an ordinary large barrel. However, in this case, you will definitely need to use special drugs or add worms.

How to operate the pit?

In conclusion, here are some tips for those who already know how to make a compost pit with their own hands. It is equally important to use it correctly throughout the season.

Loosen the compost with a pitchfork from time to time. This will help the oxygen to get inside and the waste to mix with each other.
Water the pile from time to time to maintain proper moisture levels.
Cover the contents with dark plastic wrap to create a greenhouse effect. When the pile is covered, the compost in it can mature even in 3-4 months.
Place earthworms in the prepared compost. They perfectly loosen the pile, recycle it.

Videos and articles on the Internet on the topic of building compost pits are more than enough. They all agree that, with proper construction, the compost pit can provide the owners of the site with very useful and almost free fertilizer.