How to Make a Straw-Bale Compost Bin
Straw bales can be stacked to create a simple and inexpensive compost bin. As an organic material, straw breaks down and decomposes over time, and you can eventually incorporate it into your compost pile as a carbon ingredient. Straw is a convenient choice if you're just getting into composting and aren't sure what type of bin you want. You'll gain experience without paying for a bin or materials that may not suit your situation.
How many bales to use depends on the size of individual bales available in your area, how high you plan to stack them, and how much square footage you want for composting. Bales stacked in two or three layers provide sufficient area for composting, although you could get away with just one layer if lifting the bales is a challenge.
If you want to turn compost regularly, stack straw bales to form three sides of a square or rectangular shape, leaving the fourth side open for access. You can also form an enclosed square, filling it full of materials to decompose on their own time schedule without turning. If you get the urge to turn, you can always pull out a couple bales to create access.
A straw bale bin is quick to build. It's easy to expand (or shrink) your bin's size and add adjacent bins. Bales provide good insulation to maintain moisture and heat within the compost.
However, bales can be heavy to transport and lift. If you can't comfortably tote 50 to 80 pounds, straw bales aren't the best option! As straw breaks down, it loses its tidy appearance. Stacks may lose their stability, sag, and look unkempt.
To create a straw bale composting bin, the only materials you need are five or six two-string straw bales. This simple structure uses five two-string bales to form three sides of a single-layer, open-sided bin. Its rectangular interior composting area is about 3 feet wide x 4 1/2 feet long x 14 inches high
Place two bales end to end to form one side wall that measures 6 feet (1.8 meters) long.
Place one bale perpendicular to the first wall as the back wall.
Place the remaining two bales end to end to form the third wall.
One more bale completes the rectangle if you prefer to keep your compost contained in an enclosed bin. Set it against the outer edges of the side walls, making it easier to swing outward if you want to open the enclosure.
Another option for this bin is to stack another five bales for a second layer, increasing the height to 28 inches and providing you with more composting space. This design helps your heap self-insulate and retain more heat and moisture.
Use straw bales to create temporary composting sites. Surround the area where you want to add a garden in a year or two with straw bales and compost within them to improve the soil beneath. As the straw decomposes, work it into your compost, and as the compost decomposes, work it into the soil. By the time you're ready to plant, you'll be plunging your shovel into rich, dark soil and your "bin" will have disappeared, leaving you with nothing to move or store.
Gardening Glossary
annuals
Plants that complete their entire life cycle within one growing season. The plant germinates from seed, grows and blooms, and then produces seed and dies.
Gardening Glossary
biennials
A plant that take two growing seasons to complete its life cycle. It germinates and grows leaves and stems in the first year; produces flowers and fruit (seed) in the second, and then dies.
Gardening Glossary
bolt
When a plant flowers or produces seed prematurely.
Gardening Glossary
cold frame
A wooden or concrete block box in which you can grow plants or hold dormant during the cold winter months.
Gardening Glossary
cole crops
A family of vegetables, including broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and Brussels sprouts. They thrive in cooler weather.
Gardening Glossary
complete fertilizer
Any fertilizer that contains all three of the primary nutrients, N-P-K (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium). Phrase is based on regulations governing the fertilizer industry. Does not mean that the fertilizer literally contains everything a plant needs to thrive.
Gardening Glossary
deadheading
The practice of pinching or cutting off spent flowers
Gardening Glossary
evaporative-pad humidifier
A humidifier in which fans blow across a moisture-laden pad that sits in a reservoir of water.
Gardening Glossary
harden off
The process of acclimating plants grown indoors gradually to the brighter light and cooler temperatures of the outside world.
Gardening Glossary
hardiness
The ability of a plant to survive is called its hardiness.
Gardening Glossary
humus
A stable end product of organic-matter decomposition that's believed to increase microbial activity in soil, improve soil structure, and enhance the root development of plants.
Gardening Glossary
Bacillus thuringiensis Bt
An effective bacteria that attacks only the larvae of caterpillar family insects. It is safe to other insects, animals, and humans.
Gardening Glossary
macronutrients
Mineral nutrients that plants need in the largest quantities: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur.
Gardening Glossary
mulch
Organic or inorganic material placed over the surface of soil, usually directly over the root zone of growing plants. Used to conserve moisture, kill weed seedlings, modify soil temperature, provide attractive covering to garden beds.
Gardening Glossary
organic matter
Once-living stuff like compost, sawdust, animal manure, ground bark, grass clippings, and leaf mold (composted tree leaves). Used to enrich soil and improve soil texture.
Gardening Glossary
perennials
Any plant with a life cycle of three or more years. Herbaceous (non-woody) perennials include flowering plants and herbs, mainly. Woody perennials include trees and shrubs. Longevity depends on the plant and growing conditions.
Gardening Glossary
pH
The measure of soil's acidity. Soil with low pH means it's too acidic; soil with high pH means it's alkaline. Most plants grow best in soil with a pH value between 6.5 and 7.2. Neutral soils measure 7.
Gardening Glossary
photosynthesis
The process through which plants take nutrients from the air and from the water in the soil to produce sugars that fuels the plant's growth.
Gardening Glossary
primary nutrients
Nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium are the three nutrients plants need in the largest quantities.
Gardening Glossary
root crops
Plants with edible underground roots such as onions, carrots, beets, potatoes, turnips. Most root crops are cold-weather crops.
Gardening Glossary
self-blanching
A type of cauliflower with leaves that naturally curl over the head and exclude light. Requires cool temperatures for leaves to curl effectively.
Gardening Glossary
sets
Small onion bulbs, about 1/2-inch wide, that were started from seed the previous year. Grow onion sets with the pointy end up.
Gardening Glossary
side-dressing
The act of adding a small amount of fertilizer around or "on the side" of plants after they're growing.
Gardening Glossary
succession planting
Planting small, 2-to-4-foot patches of plants every two weeks throughout the growing season so that you can harvest a crop over an extended period of time.
Gardening Glossary
thinning
The act of cutting the least robust seedlings in your garden to give the healthier plants more room to grow.
Gardening Glossary
vining crops
Crops that grow on vines, such as cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and winter squash. They usually require support (staking, trellising, etc.) to keep them off the ground.
