Comments on: Bentley’s DIY Backyard Bin

By: Kerri

Kerri — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 05:55:03 +0000

This is amazing. I will be doing a lot of reading on this site. (I do have other things to do..but) I love the way you share not only your ideas but the progress, failures and successes.
PS I can’t kill tomatoes either. At my previous house I sheet mulched the front prior to creating a garden and just staked the cherry tomatoes and let the pumpkin vine take over. My neighbours probably thought I was crazy, but hey, they were going to find out sometime!
Kerri

By: Wormnewby

Wormnewby — Sat, 21 May 2011 04:05:44 +0000

I’m new to the worming. Our after school kids started a garden and I wanted the kids to learn about worm farming. We had two wooden beds made but I was worried they would get too hot. No shade,! So we just made the plastic tote beds. We now have four totes of worms and they are doing great! We want to go larger maybe even compost the schools cafeteria waste. What would be the best system that would allow student involvement, very cheap, and survive Indiana winters? Our school has about 600 kids.

Our garden produce goes to nutrition education and the local food bank so we want our garden to do well!

When we had more waste than our worms could handle I dug a hole in the garden and buried. It’s all gone this spring and there are worms in every shovel of dirt!

By: Larry D.

Larry D. — Sat, 07 May 2011 00:49:54 +0000

Looks good to me! We used to have a saying on stuff we kind of throw together.I’m not one to try and beautify basic worm bins.Although i could built a piece of furniture if i wanted to.I prefer the”Cattle barn rustic look”Ha Ha!At one time i was going to add trim to my big flowthru.But then i saw the light.Worms can’t see it!:-)
On a side note.There is a few worm bin plans in the book”Worms eat my garbage”.I kind of gave my copy away in a contest.Guess i need to order a few more copies and break out a saw!

By: Steve L.

Steve L. — Fri, 06 May 2011 16:36:11 +0000

Bentley!… Pressure treated lumber!!… For shame, for shame. (haha!!!)

Joking aside, I think we all make different choices as we progress in our enviro-awareness and convictions. I’m confident that the thousands of worms and bazillions of microbes simply layered a vermi-cast barrier against those treated boards as the bin rose in height, and didn’t think twice about the ill effects of ingesting a few toxins here and there. Worms are tough! They laugh in the face of PT lumber.

Great article… classic Compost Guy Christie material. Thanks for the reading, and sharing the experience.

By: Gustavo

Gustavo — Fri, 06 May 2011 13:47:39 +0000

Sometimes I fell relieved that it doesn’t snow here, so I don’t have your kind of problems. But I have to worry about periods of extremely hot sun that dries an entire system in a few days and periods of unstoppable rains that drowns my worms in a few hours. The only system I managed to do as an outdoors system was one made of big rocks. It started as a simple compost pile which I threw 4 worms and a few months later it has more worms than my “official” bin – and they were VERY larger. For those who are not DIY masters, there are plenty of websites for that. Can we paste links here?

By: Anna

Anna — Fri, 06 May 2011 12:43:39 +0000

Droooooooool. I want one!

By: John Duffy

John Duffy — Fri, 06 May 2011 01:54:41 +0000

Looks like the ole bin has served you very well. That’s some great looking material in the bottom! Just imagine the fun you’d have if you make the next one 20′ long. Keep up the good work. Always look forward to your posts.
My stackable bin is doing well. The Euros are really fat & sassy and the reds are making lots of babies. My grandson hauled in a 19″ bass last weekend on one of the Euros… I’ve got another pound or two on my Father’s Day list;)

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 06 May 2011 01:46:05 +0000

I like it!!!!! The bins I am using are very similar in size and construction, but connected, with 1/8″ hardware screens between each compartment.
One question…..would it be possible to build the same setup using Trex or a similar composite decking material? I’m thinking that it would last virtually forever, and not deteriorate like traditional lumber.