compost pile/aesthetics

[simple life]

I am wondering if for the sake of aesthetics can a raised bed type of enclosure be used for a compost pile?
I was thinking of 12 inches, high if that is sufficient and does it have to be open on one side or not? I was thinking that if I put a pile of compost/dirt in the yard its just too tempting for the dogs,kids and maybe even the chickens to want to play in or on it.It would also look a little better if it looks like one of the other raised beds I am putting in.

 

[patandchickens]

A compost pile only 12" high is not going to hold hardly anything and it will take approximately your lifetime to turn into compost You need, ideally, at least about a 3' high pile on a 3x3 or 4x4 (minimum) footprint. You could base it on a raised-bed type foundation if you wanted, but it needs to be taller and thus if you want it to stay tidy it needs walls. Old pallets wired together actually looks surprisingly tidy, or there are other ways of doing it. You need air penetration, so solid walls would be not so good.

Dunno if that helps, but good luck,

Pat

 

[Rosalind]

Hey, I got an idea--this is sorta what I wish DH would have done with my compost heap, mainly because we actually have old fence panels laying around uselessly.

Take 2 picket fence panels. Can be vinyl or cheap wood. If cheap wood, coat with several layers of polyurethane sealant. Cut both in half vertically, and fix 3 of the resulting pieces to fenceposts set in the ground. Or stakes whacked in the ground real good. Something like that. Staple chickenwire to the inside portion of your box. On the 4th side, put gate hinges on one side and a gate latch on the other, then set your last piece of chickenwired picket fence on the hinges and latch. Plant daffodils or pansies or what have you around the border of the setup for the look of the thing.

If you have a bunch of small logs and a chainsaw, you could make a three-sided log cabin sort of affair by cutting notches with the chainsaw in a Lincoln Logs sort of way. That could look pretty, especially with a honeysuckle vine or something trailing over it. Whack some posts into the ground for a gate on the front, made out of one of those twiggy fence panel things you see at garden centers.

 

[pjkobulnicky]

Like anything else there is easy and there is good. Usually you don't find them together. But ... if you want both and you don't generate lots of compost materials then put the raw stuff into your chicken run and let the chicks compost it for you.

Other postings are right. I use three connected bins, each 3 X 3 X 3 and I do two turnings ... left to center and center to right.

Paul