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

By: Michael Kohler

Perhaps you have heard the age old adage that you can’t get anything for free. This is true for most things in life with the exception of Irma composting or what many call worm composting. Basically, worms will take your organic garbage and transform it almost magically into a type of compost that is rich and ready to be planted with your garden plants to enhance their growth and make your food that much more rich. There are a few things you should know about worm compost that will show you clearly why it works so well.

Regardless of the affordability factor, worm compost is one of the richest forms of fertilizer that you can use in your garden today. Though this is a very simplified idea, it simply has to do with you taking a handful of worms, dumping them in a pile of dirt with some newspaper, a little water, and your every day organic trash such as leftover vegetables and in a few weeks you will have your worms producing the richest fertilizer that you may every news for your indoor or outdoor garden.

The reason why this is possible is that worms are ultimately natures greatest recyclers because they can take your organic garbage and turn it into expensive gardening real estate. Red worms are typically used in any worm composting bin which can be as small as a Tupperware container with holes or as large as a rain barrel depending upon how much compost you actually want to produce.

Be careful how much food that you give the worms because over time they will begin to overcrowd themselves and you may need to expand your operation which can only be good for you especially if your garden is in need of extra compost from time to time. Some people will actually use buckets and harvest the compost in as short as two to three weeks. Often times 50 to 60 days is necessary in order to keep a proper balance of happiness with your worms as well as moisture content and cocoon productivity.

Probably the most expensive thing that you will have to invest in is in the worms themselves which run about $25 to $35 a pound, which is about a thousand worms. Also remember that the container that you keep them in should be relatively warm as red worms do not produce well or create compost well in colder climates.

As far as a worm bin goes for your worm compost, you can usually pick one up for $20-$30 for a medium-sized one or if you are interested in a barrel, it would be a good idea to get a plastic one. Typically water barrels are made from Oak because Oakwood is used in wine barrels that are commonly seen in many landscaping schemes. Oak wood has an acid which is detrimental to your worm population so you would be better served to spend her money on a sturdy plastic container.

The average worm compost harvesting will net you a round 50 to 55 gallons a year. Make sure that the bottom of the barrel or the container that you are using has drainage holes for the excess water and if you have a lid on top it needs to be aerated with holes on the sides as well as on top of the container itself. Worms can be very finicky and you will have to get to know how the dirt fields with your hands in order to make sure that it is moist enough for the worms to continue breeding and creating compost area

Once you have your worms supply, and you have your bedding and dirt ready in your worm container, simply put the worms on the top about six to 8 inches beneath the soil and add the food scraps on a regular basis on the top making sure to close the lid because worms despite the fact they do not have eyes are photophobic and will not come to the food if there is too much light.

That is it! You are now on your way to creating worm compost for your garden. By following the simple steps provided, you should have enough compost to add to your small garden and create and enough food for your family on a regular basis all year long.

By: Colin

If your home grown fruit and vegetables do not taste quite as delicious as you hoped and your flowers are not as brilliant as desired then maybe you need to look at your soil.

It’s well known that one of the greatest assets in your garden can be the addition of compost to the soil to produce the wonderful crops you dseire. The benefits of healthy soil will turn your garden into an oasis of desirable plants; you will be assured of a rewarding experience in your backyard and a successful harvest.

However, it’s not good enough to just buy topsoil from the local garden centre as a quick fix and think, Oh! That’s easy! Mother Nature is more demanding than that. Even if you have a bottomless wallet its just not feasible to keep buying topsoil, after all, you’re just buying what the garden centre recommends, which still needs looking after anyway. As with everything, if you don’t put in, you won’t get out.

So to keep your soil in top shape you need to be able to understand its needs, and how to keep it healthy, and then, and only then, will you reap the rewards your hard work deserves. There’s no rocket science involved here, just simple procedures which will make gardening easier and very rewarding.

Unfortunately, these days it seems that society in general has become very wasteful. Daily we read stories that our planet is under threat because of this. It’s been reported that in the US alone, garden and food scraps make up 30% of the waste stream. Now there’s no better place to address this than in your own backyard; in reality what this means is that a large portion of your garbage can be recycled and reused as fertilizer for your garden.

Instead of dumping your families’ biodegradable waste into the garbage bin and sending it off to landfill, or water treatment facilities, you can compost it and divert it on to your own garden in the form of valuable humus, which is a wonderful food for our plants and flowers. Another great benefit of home composting is that it will save you money as you won’t need to buy fertilizer.

First of all diagnose what soil you have and its deficiencies, as its condition will reflect on how well your plants will grow. Nutrients in the garden soil are most readily available to plants at a pH neutral range of around 6-7 so you should aim to get your garden soil to this level and keep it in this range. To help diagnose your soils health you can buy an easy to use inexpensive pH test kit from your nursery or hardware store and do your own test. Amendments can then be added to the soil to achieve this neutral pH reading.

Sandy, Clay or Loam are the three basic types of soil, with loam being the ultimate choice as it allows good drainage and aeration, so that your plants roots have a good supply of necessary oxygen. Now the cheapest and most beneficial way to obtain the loam you desire and to keep your soil healthy lies in your decision to recycle your kitchen and garden waste.

First choose the best alternative for your situation, taking into account your budget, the location of your composting site and making sure your neighbors are given some consideration.

The various ways of making compost include making a pile in some out of the way corner of your garden, using a container or bin or buying some worms to help with the process of breaking down the kitchen and garden waste. I prefer to use a compost bin as they are very easy to use and come in a large range of types and sizes to suit most budgets and landscapes. You’ll find they perform better out of the wind and direct sunlight and directions on how to use compost bins usually accompany them.

At the end of the process, which should take about 6-8 weeks in an average size compost bin, you should have rich brown crumbly compost with a pleasant earthy smell. This is then used to enrich the soil by digging it into the garden beds. This is forever ongoing, so you will be able to use the proceeds from your kitchen and garden waste to keep your soil healthy and in return for your labor will be rewarded with great tasting fruit and vegetables. What a great way to save the planet.

Jeni asked:


I am interested in starting to compost so my garbage accumulation will lessen, but I don’t know even what to do. I also live in a small cabin with a parking spot size lawn. I can find a small place to do this, but I don’t even know what I can put in there.
It’s supposed to make fertilizer for plants right?

By: MIKE SELVON

Each year in the spring people venture outdoors to begin planting their gardens and flower beds. The allure of warm, gentle days seems to call out the winter hermits in an act of reseeding the world with beauty and divine scents.

One thing that does not make sense is the amount of money spent on commercial fertilizers and compost. Composting yourself is free and makes some of the best fertilizer in the world. Sure, it does take some time but if you start work on it early you can have rich, dark soil by the time planting season comes around.

Composting is environmentally friendly and once you know what can be composted and what cannot, you will be on your way to being eco-friendly. In this article the basics of composting will be covered such as what it actually is technically and how you can begin your own compost heap in your own backyard.

What is composting?

Composting is the process of taking organic material and breaking it down through a variety of chemical and animal processes to achieve fertilizer and plant building material that is both cheap and highly effective. It is very environmentally friendly and is a great way to avoid paying those high costs of bags of fertilizer.

You can utilize those leftover food wastes, animal wastes, grass clippings, branches and other organic materials to create a loamy material that will help your plants grow to their maximum potential like no other commercial grade fertilizer possibly can. The best part is that it is free!

What can I use to help the material break down?

If you want your compost heap and material to break down faster you are going to need to keep it aerated, moist and broken into smaller pieces. You can also help break down the material by adding worms and other small insects into the pile that will help eat the organic material.

Their waste products are filled with great nutrients for the soil and before long you will have a compost heap that is ready to hit the garden to begin the cycle all over again. It is a circle of life that is a great example of Mother Nature at her finest and shows what recycling can do for the environment.

How does compost improve the soil?

Composting adds valuable nutrients back into the soil such as Carbon, Nitrogen and Oxygen. There are other essential elements that are added that will all work together to add the depleted minerals from the growth cycle back into the soil after a plant has used them. Consider it a natural cycle that is essential for plants, grasses, trees and flowers to grow and thrive.

How do I prepare the materials for composting?

Start preparing your compost pile by breaking up the materials into manageable pieces. The object is to help the materials break down or decompose faster. Larger pieces will hinder the process. A shredder works wonders for yard trimmings.

If you are using manure you will want to take a pitch fork and break up the clumps before adding them into the pile. Try to keep the pieces to sizes around the shape of a leaf if it is at all possible.

If you can keep them even smaller to help speed up the process that much faster and before long you will have a mound of fertilizer to use however you see fit.