By: Anthony Tripodi

If you’re looking to turn your garbage into gardener’s gold and do it in a hurry, then you should try a compost tumbler. If you have a compost bin then you know how great it is to add compost to your flower beds and vegetable garden. But making compost takes time and it’s usually in short supply. A compost tumbler is a great time saver when making compost.

Some gardeners believe that compost is better than fertilizer because it doesn’t just feed your plants, it also improves your soil. Improving your soil keeps your plants healthier so they grow stronger and more capable of fighting off diseases or beating droughts. Compost is decomposed organic matter and is high in nutrients that plants love. Bacteria and other micro organisms help break down that decomposing organic matter and their short life cycles become part of the process itself. When they reproduce their offspring continue the process while the parents bodies break down and add to the organic matter. It’s nature’s way of recycling.

Creating compost will usually take a couple of months. If you get the ratio of browns to greens right, turn the pile to keep it aerated and don’t let it dry out you’ll be rewarded with fresh earthy compost. The more you tend your compost pile, the quicker your garden waste will become compost. Neglect the pile and it will still become compost but it’ll take a lot longer. For an example of this examine the rich soil in a forest. As leaves and tree litter fall to the ground, there isn’t anyone there making sure it’s the same wetness as a wrung out sponge. But by the time the next season rolls around, a lot of those leaves have begun decomposing and in the process, they’re feeding the trees and the cycle continues without any help from man.

The gardening season can be very short depending on where you live. In the Northeast we have about 4 months of time to grow the flowers, fruits and vegetables that we love. So unless you have a huge bin of compost ready to go on the first day of spring you’ll need some more during the growing season. A compost tumbler is perfect for making compost fast. Now you probably won’t make enough compost to fill new beds but the amount you can make is perfect to give your plants and nice top dressing.

Or if you are a composter with a pest problem, the compost tumbler will keep the critters out of your pile. The most popular tumblers are sealed up and only have holes for air. If rodents or snakes have been problems for you in the past then the compost tumbler is the solution that you’ve been looking for.

There’s a few things you’ll need to do a little differently if you’re used to bin composting. First off, you’ll need to add all the raw materials at once. Don’t continue adding or else your compost will never be done. Add what you want and then start turning. Try to turn it everyday. If not everyday then at least a few times a week. The first few batches will take the longest unless you already have some compost that you can toss into the tumbler. Or you can use a compost activator. That’s all activators really are anyway. Just someone’s else’s compost to help get your pile started. The bacteria and micro organisms have to get in there somehow.

Be sure not to over water when using a compost tumbler. Moisture doesn’t escape as easily inside the tumbler as with a regular compost bin. And most likely your ingredients such as grass clippings or coffee grinds were already moist to begin with.

After about 3 weeks the compost should start to look like compost. It should be an even color and you shouldn’t be able to tell what you put in the tumbler. If your waste is still recognizable then let it decompose a while longer. And don’t forget to smell your compost. It should have a nice earthy smell to it.

If you’re looking for a neat

dlzzy asked:


How do the microorganisms in the compost break down the material in there? Do the microogranisms just appear in the compost if the environment of the compost is correct? What temperature should the compost be? How can I make my own compost? Would it work if I had like a small box or something and I add whatever I need to add in there. I’m doing a science fair experiment on it and I want an easy and inexpensive way to create some sort of mini compost bin/tumbler. Thanks so much if you have ANY information on composting and please help on telling me any information on MAKING a mini compost bin/tumbler.

foolishknitter467 asked:


I am interested in doing more for the environment. I want to start using a composting bin to create some good dirt for around my yard, but the bins online and in catalogs are a bit pricey for my tight budget.

Having a fence-type compost pile in my yard is not very feasible for my situation.

Where can I get a compost bin in Bergen County, NJ, without spending a lot of money?

Am asked:


I’ve heard that it’s composting without manure or any other animal stuff, it only uses plants for compost. I’m asking because I’d like to know how to make a Green Compost. Thanks!
(I only want to know organic methods ok people!)

By: Jason

Composting is very similar to recycling but in the broader sense, recycling encompasses everything. Whether it is composting or recycling the objective is to provide a kinder environment for our future inhabitants. Earth is getting depleted and if we don’t partake in preserving virtually the only habitable place that we are aware of, and then will it irk us if all we left behind is one lump of uninhabitable planet.

Recycling is more perceptible these days as we can see separate garbage bins for cans as well as clothes and pots or vases. It is present in our everyday life but composting is slightly different as it involves the recycling of materials that are found in nature. Conceive in your mind dried leaves, grass clippings, fruit peelings, vegetable, animal manure, sawdust, etc.

Composting is basically for the purpose of gardening and in essence organic gardening. Throw out all synthetic products such as pesticides as we only require organic materials. Compost is not only environmentally friendly; it makes the soil healthier and in turn give rise to healthier crops that if free from chemicals.

Organic gardening require lots of hard work but if you put your soul and heart into it, the effort will merit all the sweats. Even if you can’t spare the requisite time, you still can attempt to do compost irrespective of whether you are living in urban or rural areas. It is not necessary to create the compost yourself if you have a garden in an urban home as long as you observe the rules in organic farming. That is no chemicals or pesticides so out with materials that are not naturally formed.

It is the trend to buy everything organic although it is not completely proven that organic produces are better than other farming methods when it comes to the issue of health. It is so fashionable that there is not just organic food but organic soap, tissue, cloth and just about everything as everyone chips in to care for our fragile environment.

Through composting we have nature in our heart besides contributing to the causes of our mother earth. Composting takes some time to get a hang of and some may be hesitant whether it is making or using compost. It is an onerous task to make compost as it can be smelly as well as our perception that compost piles and garbage in our backyard is filthy.

If making it is difficult, then you can mull over purchasing the fertilizers and the compost essentials from your neighborhood garden stores. That ought to be easier if that will lead you to make use of composting to benefit our environment.