Homemade Compost boxes

A composting box for the garage, basement or outdoors in a warm climate can be made out of a sheet of plywood or even a 2 x 12 piece of lumber. Cut 4 walls, the floor and if outside maybe a lid. I never use a lid, I use wet burlap as a cover.
Your compost box does not need to be complicated, I use 3 shallow rubber maid containers as "worm hatcheries". I use 12" deep boxes though deeper than most people suggest and have had huge success in making the bedding deep for my "soil factory" box. When focusing on soil you don't want to agitate the soil too often and you are looking for volume, lots of compost. When focusing on worm production I feed them more often and have smaller shallower boxes, easier and quicker to work with.

With my system though I have turned what was once a very arduous task into a much simpler job. I only feed the "soil Factory" box a few times a month but substantially each time with about a gallon of my special feed which I create using my Vitamix.

This feed not only allows the worms to process their food much quicker, but I believe is more nutritious, creating a more fertile soil because the scraps are not left to decompose and be soft enough to eat but are already in a slushy digestible form - this way no nutrients are being lost in undigested food or have to be continually filtered and put back in the new bin till the chunks of food break down.

A couple of last thoughts on bins if you are inside composting:
1. Put your bin on a table or stand, don't be bending over all the time to work your bin.
2. As per advice on the internet I used to put holes in the bottom of the boxes for drainage. Now I put plastic in the bottom of those boxes so they don't leak and to hold moisture. If your box is outside you have to have drainage or the worms can drown. But inside you monitor your bedding so it is lightly damp, sometimes even sprinkling with water. They love the moistness, but hate when it is too wet.

I have included the link to another homemade box:
Happy Gardening,
email me at DKHamon@hotmail.com
http://tinyurl.com/bcftpx