Pallet Compost Bin

Step 7 More stuff.

If you live in a climate that has good to mild humidity, you would be done at this point. However, I live in hell, Phoenix, AZ. Mesa to be precise.
We don't have much humidity and moisture is what helps to break down the organics in your composter. To effectively do this, we need to add some heavy duty plastic to the bin to help keep some of the moisture in the bin. Moisture and heat are a compost bin's best friend.

Comments

[KingLabs]

I'd worry about smells if the compost doesn't get enough oxygen.  However, like you, I'd be willing to try it.  I'm in AZ too and I get a lot of dry spots on the edges, but I'll water my compost pile once every other week and it stays wet in the middle.  I haven't tried plastic on the sides, but I had some luck with an old carpet thrown over the top.  It seems to keep the middle part wet for longer times.  Thanks for the instructions!

[leah_thomas]

If it smells bad your mixture has too much nitrogen. While air helps it does solve the main problem. The general rule is two parts carbon to one part nitrogen. High carbon items are usually brown and dry while high nitrogen is generally green and moist. Other high nitrogen materials are kitchen scraps and manure. Adding things like dry leaves or grass and sawdust can really help neutralize the smell. Typically some people I know only use nitrogen based products.

**Most of the above info came from The Veggie Gardener's Answer Book. The book is wonderful at addressing many gardening problems!!!!