Extreme Gardeners

by Milkwooders

Article by Steve Robison

A tumbler composter is the fastest and easiest method for creating your own compost. Compost that will make your flower beds and garden the talk of the neighborhood.

If you make your own compost, without a tumbler composter, chances are, you are working a lot harder than you need to. And, it’s probably taking you a much longer time to make your compost than it should.

As a gardner, you have a golden opportunity to convert something of little value into something of great value. You can turn your kitchen scraps and yard debris into true gardner’s gold…commonly known as compost.

If you’ve never treated your plants to compost, you’ve missed out on a true miracle.

What is compost?

Not to be mistaken for fertilizer, compost is a very beneficial soil conditioner. Compost contains very little nutrient value, however compost improves a plant’s ability to absorb nutrients from the soil.

Where does compost come from?

Compost is the end product of the natural decomposition of organic matter. You see that natural process first hand when you walk on a soft forest floor. While decomposition is a normal process in nature, composting accellerates the process.

Decomposed organic matter is an extremely valuable soil amendment. Organic matter can improve soil structure, attract earthworms, facilitate beneficial microbial breakdown of the soil, suppress numerous soil diseases, and suspend nutrients in a slow release state throughout the growing season.

You can never add too much compost to your garden, or flower beds.

Compost is available at your local garden store. However, making compost at home is a great exercise in environmental responsibilty.

By making your own compost, you reduce the amount of yard debris and kitchen waste that goes into our landfills. You can reduce that amount by as much as 75%.

In composting, you also experience genuine satisfaction by turning something of no apparent value (kitchen scraps and yard debris) into something that makes your garden and flowers, lush and beautiful.

How do you make your own compost?

To make compost you need four things:1 – Browns (leaves, vegetable stalks, straw, peanut shells),2 – Greens (grass clippings, food waste, garden waste, manures),3 – good air flow, and4 – the right amount of moisture.

Next, you’ll need to bring these ingredients together in a pile, a bin, or a barrel.

Pile Composter Method

With the pile method, you simply pile your ingredients, say in the corner of your garden. You will then have to “turn” your ingredients at least once per week. The pile method is typically the slowest method to produce finished compost. It can take from 3 to 12 months.

Bin Composter Method

With the bin method, you construct a bin out of something, like old pallets. Use a pallet also to create a floor in the bin. Having a raised floor in your bin will permit proper aeration.

Line the bin with chicken wire or other small mesh wire. The smallest optimum size for a bin is 3′x3′x3′, the largest optimum size for a bin is 5′x5′x5′.

The ingredients in a bin also need to be “turned” at least weekly. Using the bin method, you can plan on having finished compost in 3 to 6 months.

Tumbler Composter Method

The fastest (usually 14 to 21 days), and perhaps the easiest method for creating compost. In the tumble method, a barrell is used for mixing the ingredients.

Drilling holes in the barrell will provide proper aeration. If the barrell is not black, it’s a good idea to paint the barrell black so it will gather as much heat as possible.

Then every few days, simply roll or tumble the barrell to mix the composting ingredients.

The barrell can be mounted on a frame work, making it very easy to tumble.

If you can complete a simple do-it-yourself project, you can build your own tumbler composter for very little, or no cost.

If do-it-yourself projects are not your cup of tea, tumbler composters can be purchased very economically.

In Conclusion

Composting is easy to do, it’s environmentally responsible, and your garden and flower beds will flourish.

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