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| by:
Gary Walchuk
photos: Bert Klassen
illustration: Len Churchill |
COMPOSTER |
| BLACK
GOLD ... SOIL, THAT IS. Strike it rich in your garden by building
a deluxe modular composter |
Alchemists in the Middle Ages tried to conjur it from lead.
Prospectors rushed to the Yukon to search for it in riverbeds.
And while you’re not likely to find much mineral gold in your
backyard, a good composter can do what the alchemists could
not—turn waste into gold. Black gold for your garden, that is.
This composter has four things going for it. First, it’s bigger
than many ready-made plastic units, which have to trade off
function in the interests of easy shipping. Our shop-built design
also has a removable lid with a built-in sifting screen made
of 1/2" hardware cloth to ensure that only fully rotted compost
gets to your garden. The louvred front keeps air circulating
and is also removable, making it easy to fork out your black
gold. And finally, it looks great, especially as it weathers
grey without a finish.
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| This
handy screen, hidden in the lid, separates pieces
that haven't decomposed from your finished compost |
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This design is also easy to expand—add on a second or even a
third composter and you can have different piles at different
stages of decomposition. While you’re filling one composter
with new organic matter, you can take rich, garden-ready compost
from the other.
You’ll need about 130 linear
feet of 5/4" x 6" cedar decking stock (1" thick x 5 1/2" wide)
and four 8' spruce 2 x 3s (1 1/2" thick x 2 1/2" wide) to build
the project. I chose spruce for some parts because it’s stronger
than cedar and holds screws well. To speed construction and
boost durability, drive all screws flush with the wood surface,
without cutting countersunk holes first. Besides being unnecessary
in softwood, countersinking opens the wood grain to moisture,
promoting rot.
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| Get Busy |
Start
building the box by cutting 18 side and back slats, and four
spruce inside corner members. Next, place two corners on your
workbench, 34" apart, with their 2 1/2" faces down. Now attach
six side slats to these parts, ends flush with the outer edges
of the corner members and a 1/2" space between each slat. Fasten
the slats and corners with one screw per joint initially, then
square the frame by equalizing diagonal measurements taken corner
to corner before adding two more screws per joint to lock the
assembly firm. Build the opposite side frame exactly the same,
then stand both upright, 34" apart, and join them with the remaining
six slats to produce a three-sided, free-standing box.
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| Louvres
help aerate your compost pile, and because they're
removable, you can take a few out to reach finished
compost at the bottom, or take them all out and
turn the whole pile over. |
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Next, prepare the six outside corner members and add one to
each back corner of the box, flush with the back face as shown
on the plans. Attach two more outside corners to the front face
of sides, and the final two on the outside faces of the sides.
As you’ll discover, the outside corner members add considerable
strength to the unit, and cover the exposed ends of the slats,
for a neater, trimmed look.
Cut the two stop strips to size
and attach them to the backside of the front inside corners.
The plans show how these strips overlap the inside corners by
1" along their length and prevent the removable louvres from
dropping into the composter.
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| All Spaced Out |
At
this point, you have the basics of a three-sided box. Now it’s
time for some detailing. From your supply of 2 x 3s, cut the
ten side spacers and two bottom spacers to shape, with 45° cuts,
as shown in the plans. These are screwed to the inside surface
of the front inside corners, to hold the removable louvres.
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| Strong
corner construction is essential for durability.
Your composter has to withstand the forces of weather
from the outside and the strain of a heavy pile
of hot, rotting compost on the inside. |
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Begin spacer installation by screwing the bottom pair flush
with the bottom ends of the front inside corners. Then, working
your way upward, apply five spacers per side as shown. This
leaves about 1 1/16" between each spacer for the louvres to
slide 45° down to the vertical stop strip you added earlier.
The kickplate and top brace bind
the three sides of the compost box together to hold the load
it will contain during use. Cut these parts now and screw them
in place as shown on the plans. Cut and install the base members
while you’re at it. These are designed to snuggle into the ground,
boosting stability. Cut the removable baffles next, slide them
home, and the body of your composter is done.
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| PART
1 | PART 2 |
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