This Old House’s Composting bin plans

Tomorrow is September 1. And, in many places (not quite in Florida), the green summer leaves will turn to the fiery reds, oranges and yellows, and then fall out of the trees, ready to be raked.

While most folks will put them out with the trash or burn them, leaves will break down in a compost bin, creating a nutrition-packed soil amendment for your plants. But, those commercial composting bins are butt ugly, and bins built from stacked concrete blocks and chicken wire just look too darned trashy. What you need is a high quality, good looking bin that compliments your yard, looks sweet and shows off your handiwork.

This week’s link, brought to you by the folks at This Old House, shows how to build an attractive bin out of cypress, thermally-treated wood or some other rot-resistant species. Using simple screwed joints, the unit goes together quickly and provides a way to corral all of those pesky leaves.

Better get to it.. those leaves aren’t going to throw themselves out!