Portable compost bins

I make lightweight, portable, and affordable mini-compost bins out of chicken wire. I bend the wire to form 4-foot-tall cylinders, which are about 4 feet across and held shut with lengths of wire (or the cut edges can be twisted around the uncut edges to close the cylinder).

I place the bins behind big shrubs to camouflage them and then fill the bins with layers of leaves, grass clippings, vegetable peelings, and leftover potting soil or manure. After the material decays and packs down, I lift the cylinders, move them to new locations, and start over. Then I move my compost wherever I need it or simply rake it around a nearby shrub as a nice top-dressing. 

For more on composting techniques and equipment, see All About Compost on VegetableGardener.com.