I have been wanting to have a Vermiculture (worm) Compost Bin for the absolute longest time... but was always worried they'd escape, and I also wanted to keep the aesthetic of it modern looking. The ones that I did see were, let's be real, hideous. The ones that were adorable, were pricey, but really tiny. Then I did find one that was pretty reasonable, however, it was going to cost $400. I'm sorry, in this pandemic / lockdown, that was just too much for me. So, I decided to build one. I had the idea in my head, just needed to ink it down on paper..er, laptop.
I designed this thing 3 times. The first time, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. Then I started calculating the cost, and it was going to be roughly $125. Not bad since the one online was going to be $400-without the cost of the soil, plants, and worms. I go online, and what do you know? The wood I want is out of stock.
Ok, back to the drawing board-literally.
I designed a new plan, and this one actually came out much cheaper than what I'd had, and I was excited about that, because then I could get better soil. This new idea came out to only $75. I go online to reserve the wood, and what do you know, it's all sold out. Again. Ok... whooooo-saw, I can do this.
I then checked to see what they had, and decided to use Cedar Fence material instead because they had PLENTY of some dog-eared fence material. And it was cheaper. Now, it was only going to be $60. And that included the soil, and the items needed for the worm bin inside.
I get to the store, and what do you know, the size I needed was gone, but they had a 3.5" width instead of the 5.5" width. OK... Had to bust out my tape measure and figure this out again. It actually worked out better price wise. So I got the 3.5" Cedar Fence boards and everything else and went at it.
Materials used:
13 3.5" x 6' long Cedar Fence Boards
Deck Screws
2 2x2 fence posts
4 Cinder Blocks
1 Milk Crate (from Target - it was $4!)
1 medium Tray (also from Target, it came in as a set of 2 for $2)
Landscaping / Weed fabric
3 bags of soil
Plants
1 bag of worms (250 red wigglers)
4x4 wood post (I had one from my scrap bin - but check out if your local Home Depot or Lowes has a few scrap 2x4 you can use!)
Window Screen (this is not necessary, you can also use the Landscaping Fabric with some holes poked through
Plants
Tools used:
Miter Saw (Not necessary, but it helped me out!)
Circular Saw (Again, not necessary, you can do this with a handsaw, but I have noodle arms)
Power Drill (I recommend this)
Orbital Sander (Not Necessary, you can hand sand it if you'd like a good arm workout)
FULL BUILD:
For more pics you can visit my instagram link here.
Comments