Composting Yard Waste with a Compost Fence

Construct a fence that can envelope your compost while bringing life and diversity to your property.

By Laura Lavender
Updated on August 2, 2023
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by Laura Lavender
The compost fence walls are great for composting yard waste while buffering noise and providing privacy.

Here’s what to consider for constructing a compost fence, an ideal structure for composting yard waste while adding privacy to your yard.

What if your fence was alive? As typical pressed-lumber and chain-link fences certainly aren’t beacons of life, a living fence may seem like a magical notion. What a marvelous way to incorporate yet more life and diversity into the garden! Yet, despite the concept sounding revolutionary, in truth, “living fences” can be found on many residential streets in the form of hedges.

What’s a Compost Fence?

A compost wall or fence, on the other hand, is more unconventional and adventurous than a hedge. A compost fence is essentially a solid non-compostable structure, usually two fences with mesh walls built side by side with a pocket between them made to envelop compost. This compost-containing structure can be casual or a fancy latticed pergola-type structure. You can then fill your “hollow fence” with all kinds of compostables and allow them to decompose.

Compost fences are generally filled with “brown” compost materials, such as fall leaves, branches, and perennial clippings, but anything goes! The resulting mass of natural material creates a screen that blocks noise and provides privacy. Additionally, the compost provides living spaces for insects and birds. And as humus is generated by the compost’s microorganisms, you can insert hardy plants into it through the mesh to clothe the compost fence in green.

Composting Yard Waste with a Compost Fence

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