After I moved to a new place and unpacked, I had several plastic storage bins left over that I left stacked in a closet for a while. While browsing through some forums, I ran across an interesting idea and tried it myself. Take two of the plastic bins and one lid.

Place a few bricks or a few 2×4 wood sections in the bottom of the first bin. If you use 2×4’s or any wood, make sure it is untreated to avoid the nasty chemicals in your compost. In the second bin you will poke or drill several holes (I put 1 hole every 3 inches around the edges and 4 holes in the middle). These holes will drain out the liquids created during the break down of the compost and keep it from becoming too soggy, which will ruin your compost.

Place the bin with holes in inside of the first bin. Ensure that the spacers you put in the bottom allow the second bin to sit flat and stable inside the first bin. You then shred some newspaper and give it a good dousing of water. Lay the moistened newspaper evenly along the bottom of the second bin. From here if you have enough compostable material (remember it’s roughly a 50/50 mix of brown to green) to fill about an inch of the bin, you can spread it out and simply wait for nature to take its course. If you do not have enough material to start this, simply fill it with viable soil, peat moss, or store bought organic compost. You can also add worms if you choose.

I prefer the red wiggler worms; they live well in close, highly populated conditions and don’t burrow. They will also breed and you can eventually give them away or sell them to fellow gardeners. As a note; using this method is one of the easiest ways to get compost “tea.” The holes allow the liquid that is produced during the breakdown of the organic materials to seep into the bottom bin, hence the reason for the spacers. Every couple of weeks or months you can pull the top bin off and drain out the “tea”. Put this into a bottle and use it as a fantastic liquid fertilizer. It also works to prevent diseases when sprayed directly onto the plant.