Compost and rainbarrel construction project

I posted in early spring about my idea to create a compost enclosure system with 2 bays and wanted to share the finished product with all of you! The project worked out beautifully! I did get some help from my incredible neighbors to hoist that 8×4 plywood roof up onto the top for me. Thank goodness because I never would have gotten that up there myself. The gutter and rain barrel system for harvesting rain water is working out really well and since the Jersey Shore has gotten a lot of rain since I finished this project, those barrels are just about full. The water sure doesn’t come gushing out the way I imagined it would, so I usually set a watering can underneath, open the spigot and go fill up my wheelbarrow with mulch or pull a few weeds while it’s taking it’s time getting full.

This project worked out just the way I hoped it would and really an awful lot of leaves and compost materials fit into these bays. I’d like to install a more permanent front for each one… maybe a hinged double gate that latches in the middle, but that can be added later.