How To Make Unlimited Compost FAST In A $20 Trash Can: EASY DIY Guide

Last year, I showed you how to build a homemade composter out of a simple trash can. After using my easy DIY composter for a year, I share what I learned about making compost at home as well as the changes I’d make to the composting system. This video will teach you how you make unlimited compost fast in a $20 trash can.

Making compost in a compost pile can take a long time, and a compost pile can be overtaken by weeds and pests and look unsightly. Compost tumblers work better, but they can be too small and very expensive. This $20 trash can works just as well as the expensive tumblers without the high cost! This DIY composting method makes compost faster by 200%, prevents weeds and pests, and is hidden from view. Best of all, the homemade composter can be made in 10 minutes! This composter turns kitchen scraps into beautiful homemade compost for your garden!

How To Make The Trash Can Composter (Original Video): https://youtu.be/PA-b1rQ42vU?si=rhsCMsuzZuv0sraT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 Intro To Composting
0:58 Compost Piles VS Composters
2:47 The Best Things To Compost
4:00 Composter Results
6:56 Frequently Asked Compost Questions
11:48 Where To Buy A Trash Can
12:46 Are Plastic Trash Cans Safe?
13:53 How To Fill The Composter
16:20 Adventures With Dale

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Jack’s Blossom Booster 10-30-20 (1.5lb): https://amzn.to/3KyPTzg
Jack’s / JR Peters Professional 20-20-20 (25lb): https://amzn.to/3PGFDab
Jack’s Blossom Booster 10-30-20 (25lb): https://amzn.to/45FIuXh

If you have any questions about how to make compost at home, want to know about the things I grow in my raised bed vegetable garden and edible landscaping food forest, are looking for more gardening tips and tricks and garden hacks, have questions about vegetable gardening and organic gardening in general, or want to share some DIY and “how to” garden tips and gardening hacks of your own, please ask in the Comments below!

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#gardening #garden #gardeningtips #composting #diy

what’s growing on gardeners it’s Sunday
December 31st and another year has come
to a close here on the Southeastern
coast of North Carolina exactly one year
ago I showed you how to build a $25
speed composter out of a basic trash can
from the hardware store and over the
last year many of you had questions as
the video became quite popular some of
your questions were about the
performance the longevity and if I’d
make any changes to the design if I were
to do it all over again well on today’s
video I’m going to answer all of those
questions as well as show you the real
world performance of this speed
composter if you’re new to the Channel
Please Subscribe and hit the Bell to
receive new video notifications and
check out our Amazon store and spread
shop links in the video description for
everything I use in my garden and
awesome custom designed to power and
other gear your support is greatly
appreciated but before I get into this
video if you’re curious about how to
build this trash can composter I will
make sure to link to the video that
shows you how both above and down below
in the video description now first
things first first why did I go ahead
and build myself that trash can
composter well I used to have a cold
compost pile and the remnants of it is
what you see right here having a cold
compost pile especially where I live on
the humid Southeastern Coast was a
nightmare it would become overwhelmed by
weeds it would become overwhelmed by
pests mostly insects that would breed in
the compost pile and the decomposition
rate was so slow that it wasn’t even
worth having I just had to wind up going
out and buying my own compost anyway so
I figured if I designed an enclosed
system Not only would I be able to keep
all the weeds and insect pests out but I
would also get faster composting results
the point of this speed composter was to
resolve all of the issues I was having
with the cold compost pile having an
enclosed design would keep most insects
out and prevent all weed seed
germination in addition because this is
a black trash can no matter what time of
the year it was this would effectively
heat up in the Sun and create an AR
officially warm microclimate now we all
know that decomposition happens more
quickly as the temperature rises so
because this is a black trash can
trapping in all that heat throughout the
day it would effectively compost much
more quickly than some cold pile just
sitting out in the open in the yard now
in order to prevent the compost from
going Anor robic and souring you have to
drill a series of holes both in the
bottom of the trash can and along the
sides the holes in the bottom of the
trash can are there to facilitate water
drainage you cannot have Sitting water
in the bottom of your composting trash
can also the air holes on the side are
critical to letting in fresh air for
aerobic decomposition and many of you
had concerns about these holes drilled
throughout the trash can we will address
all of the concerns coming up soon now
what am I composting in this trash can
speed composter well we order little to
no takeout and we only eat out maybe
once or twice a month so I cook almost
all of the meals that we eat from home
and I predominantly use food that I grow
in my own garden for the vegetables so
most of what we compost here are
leftover kitchen scraps from my own
garden vegetables that we don’t eat also
I add things like coffee grounds
eggshells banana peels as well as when I
rip out the old plants for my garden if
there’s any root mass left behind I
often add in the root mass to this as
well now it’s important to note that I
use this as a cold composter I don’t use
this as a hot composter Al though you
could if you wanted to with hot
composting you need very specific ratios
of green material and brown material
that you rotate and turn regularly to
keep the heat going that’s not something
I’m doing this is basically just a cold
composter that breaks down extra quickly
because of the heat of the day since
this black trash can gets artificially
hot thanks to the microclimate it
creates so it’s important that you know
this this is really accelerated cold
composting not true hot composting now
I’m going to open up the lid and I’m
going to look at the results of
composting my kitchen scraps now I
haven’t added anything to this trash can
composter in over 3 months probably
pretty close to 4 months and at the time
I had it about halfway filled with
various kitchen scraps and I’ve only
rotated it maybe two or three times
since and I haven’t really looked inside
for 2 months so when I open this lid
what we’re going to find is those
composted kitchen scraps that have been
neglected for fairly long period of time
and keep in mind because we’re in the
middle of winter right now this is
basically the worst the performance is
going to be because these are the
coldest temperatures and the shortest
days of the year so now let’s take off
the lid and see what’s
inside and that is the results of a
couple of months of undisturbed
composting in this trash can you can see
the eggshells really didn’t break down
very well they tend to take like a year
or so to break down they take a very
long time uh there’s some leftover plant
roots in here but if I dig around I mean
for all intents and purposes everything
basically looks like a bag of compost
that you buy at the hardware store Sands
those eggshells so it looks like overall
ooh you’re getting some really good
looking some really good looking compost
down in the bottom there so I think what
I’m going to do is I’m going to pull
this trash can out and we’ll dump it and
take a look at it and that is the beauty
behind this trash can design because it
is sunken into the ground if you want to
actually take the compost out all you
have to do is just pick up the trash can
and then just dump it which is pretty
heavy and digging around in this compost
trying to take the clumps out of it
overall I think it looks pretty
fantastic there are still a few Roots
here in there that haven’t broken down
and there are obviously plenty of
eggshells but overall this is a really
nice rich deep dark LOM and it appears
to be pretty fully composted aside from
those roots and eggshells so overall I’m
really pretty impressed by what I’m
looking at especially considering these
are results from the coldest darkest
days of the year when solar energy and
temperatures are at a minimum now we
have to do the odor test if compost has
been fully broken down or fully
composted it should basically have no
odor and kind of smell like clean
dirt and that’s what this smells like it
actually smells like nitrogen you can
smell how rich in nitrogen this compost
is so I don’t smell any remnants of
anything that I put in there so that
indicates really good composting and
overall like I said I’m really happy
with what I see right here and then
right here is where the composter has
sat you can see how deep into the ground
it was sunken and you can also see the
holes that I drilled in the ground so we
are going to put that right back into
that sunken location and then at the end
of the video we’ll fill it back up with
some more matter for composting now
let’s get into the next segment of the
video subscribe ber questions and
Lessons Learned now I wrote down the
most commonly asked questions from the
comments of the original video and the
number one question asked was are you
worried about animals getting into the
bottom through the drill holes and the
answer is definitely no so many people
were concerned about this but it is a
total non-issue because this is a sunken
container it’s buried in the ground 6 in
there’s almost no way that something is
going to be able to burrow in there and
whole shot into one of those 7/8 in
drilled holes it’s just not going to
happen there’s virtually no chance of
that happening and if you’re really
worried about that you can just use a
drill bit and you can make the drill
holes a little bit smaller but you’ll
have to make a lot more of them many
subscribers and commenters were saying
well I’ll do the same design but I just
won’t put drill holes in the bottom so
nothing gets in that will be a disaster
if you don’t have drainage holes the
compost will rot and go anerobic you
have to have drain holes in the bottom
that is mandatory question number two
are the holes drilled in the sides of
the trash can letting in pests once
again no at least no pests of
significance no mammals can get inside
of these holes because they are so
incredibly small now it is possible that
flies can get in there but honestly I I
do get some flies in there in the middle
of the summer when it’s really warm
surprisingly few there are some but it’s
not a problem because the Flies are
actually aiding in the decomposition
it’s not like I’m getting some kind of
plague of flies if anything it’s kept
flies out of my yard because they’re
more likely to go over here than go
around my yard and bother me so it has
been a net positive the handful of fruit
flies or house flies that gets in there
is not really a concern at all and I
wouldn’t worry about that at all once
again you have to drill the air holes in
the side otherwise you will get Anor
robic decomposition which is a no no you
must let in fresh air and a lot of and
if you’re really that concerned about
insects flying in through the drill
holes in the side of the trash can you
can use something called screen repair
tape and you can paste that to the
inside of the trash can to keep insects
out I’ll link to some down in the video
description in case you need to know
where to get some question number three
am I getting any weed pressure inside
and are seeds germinating in here and
once again the answer is no or at least
sort of no yes I have had a few
instances where seeds have germinated
inside when I’ve put any kind of guts of
say pumpkins or watermelons or things in
there but seeds cannot thrive in an
absence of light they can’t get
photosynthesis so the handful of seeds
that have germinated immediately die
they pop up from the seed and then they
wither away and they go away so this for
all intents and purposes has been
completely and totally 100% weed-free
question number two do I turn the
compost that answer is yes I turn it
about once every 2 weeks now like I said
because it’s been so cold I’ve been
pretty neglectful since I haven’t added
to this in several months to let break
down just to make this video but under
normal circumstances I would turn it
about once every two weeks and when I
bring out the kitchen scraps every
single night after dinner after a couple
of weeks there will be a few inches of
new kitchen scraps on there that’s when
you want to stick either a big stick or
a pitchfork in there and turn it real
quick question number five has there
been any downsides to this composting
method and that is a resounding no there
have been absolutely no downsides to
this method this has not only saved me a
ton of space because it takes up half
the footprint of my cold compost pile
but again I’m getting no pests no weeds
and I’m getting results much faster than
out in the open so this has solved all
of my problems this has been a dream and
it’s done exactly what I wanted it to do
and question number six what do I do in
terms of adding greens for the winter
well this is a question about hot
composting um I don’t hot compost in
this when you hot comp compost you need
a ratio of greens which are things that
contain nitrogen and Browns which are
things that contain carbon again not
something I’m doing but if you are a hot
composting person it can be difficult to
find Greens in the winter time because
we don’t have things like fresh cut
green grass which is usually what people
use for green matter in hot composting
if you need a source of nitrogen for hot
composting I recommend you actually look
into coffee grounds and if you can’t
produce enough coffee grounds then I
suggest you call around to either local
coffee shops or places like McDonald’s
or Starbucks or Duncan a lot of times
they will give you coffee grounds for
free you’re doing them a favor by taking
the trash from them however don’t just
assume that they’re going to give it to
you call first to make sure so you don’t
take that drive for nothing and the
final question with inflation being so
crazy over the past couple of years is
this still legitimately a $25 speed
composter well I decided to go to Lowe’s
and check out the trash can aisle now
this is a 32G trash can and I wanted to
see what the prices are currently and
look what I found I can’t believe it but
these things have somehow gotten cheaper
than when I bought it this thing is less
than 19 bucks now and you get another 5%
off with your Lowe’s card something
actually got cheaper in the past year
finally a little bit of deflation so
shockingly you can actually get a trash
can now for under $20 and remember if
you use your Lowe’s charge card you get
another 5% off so this $25 speed
composter for whatever reason you can
now make for $18 and I’m not saying that
that’s the absolute cheapest plastic
trash can out there you can probably
find some that are even cheaper but if
you go to Lowe’s you can build yourself
a sub $20 composter right now and one of
the last concerns were people were
worried to use a plastic trash can to
generate their own compost because they
were worried about the plastic material
leeching into the compost is that really
a concern well well let me ask you a
question trash cans are made out of hdp
or PVC do you know what else is made out
of hdp and PVC the water lines in your
house where all the water comes from
down the street that you drink out of
every single day your garden hose that
you water your garden with your rain
barrels that you capture the rain in
basically if you’re afraid to use a PVC
or HTP trash can well then you can’t
drink the water in your house you can’t
make rain barrels you can’t run drip
irrigation you can’t run a garden hose
you know where does it really stop so am
I concerned about that at all absolutely
not so I think that fear is a little bit
unfounded and also remember we’re
growing our own food in our backyard
setting anything we grow in our backyard
is going to be better than the best
organic produce from the grocery store
for the most part so using this to grow
your own food don’t worry about it
you’re getting the healthiest stuff on
Earth so now that our trash can
composter is empty we need to fill it up
with more material to make more comp
compost now these are old sweet potato
vines that I pulled out of my garden in
November so they’ve been sitting here
for about 6 weeks getting hit by Frost
after freeze after Frost after freeze
and everything has been dead so we’re
going to pick these up and put them in
our trash can and this is again another
nice thing about this we don’t have to
bring our compost to the trash can we
can bring our trash can to the compost
so I’ve added all of the sweet potato
vines and I’ve chopped them up nicely
with a shovel now I’m going to add some
kitchen scraps and in this bag right
here I have some coffee grounds and
banana peels that I’ve been saving for
about a week because I knew I was going
to make this video and then I’m going to
mix that up really well and then give it
another chop and a turn and then I’ll
keep adding to that every single day as
I have more and more kitchen scraps and
coffee grounds oh yeah and don’t forget
to add water keeping everything moist
but not wet is key in assisting the
decomposition and that right there is
everything I’ve learned in the last year
I’ve been using this homemade trash can
composter this has exceeded my
expectations I’m very happy with it in
fact the only thing that I would really
change is I would build two of them
because I had to let this composter sit
for a while to make this video I wasn’t
able to compost my kitchen scraps in
another trash can because I didn’t have
another one available so if you want to
make this system I recommend you
actually make two that way you’ll have
one that you’re adding to at all times
and then one that is sitting and you
don’t have to disturb and add new
material to so if you have those two
basically in series where one is always
sitting composting and one where you
always can add your kitchen scraps to
You’ll basically have no waste and that
right there is my follow-up video to the
$25 well now less than $20 trash can
speed composter so everybody I sure hope
you found this video helpful if you did
please make sure to hit that like button
subscribe to the channel and please ring
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notified when I release more videos like
these again I will link to the original
video down in the video description so
you can build build your own and for any
of the other materials I suggested in
this video I will place direct links to
all of them down in the video
description in addition if you’re
curious to any of the products that I
use in real life in my garden they are
all linked Down Below in my Amazon
storefront in the video description and
while you’re there check out my spreadsh
shop for custom merch if you want to
support the channel thank you all so
much for watching and I hope to see all
of you again on the next
video o we have a nasty storm outside
and then after this storm we’re going to
get a big cold front and the
temperatures are going to dip down so
Dale and I are hunkering down inside
staying warm staying away from the nasty
storm and then we’re going to have to
ride out probably two weeks of really
cold temperatures for all of you in the
United States we’re going to have some
nasty nasty cold over the rest of
January so be prepared and keep your
pups
warm