Compost-Tumblers
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Decrease your household garbage output with mulch tumblers or compost bins to get started. Some composters are free through your town office, or you can purchase the fancier ones like the tumblers at your local hardware store. You can even find plans for these and make one yourself.
There are so many benefits to composting. You are creating
food for your gardens, reducing pollution, and decreasing
what ends up in the landfills.
Composting is basically free and easy to do, once you know
how to do it and most importantly, get yourself and your
family into the habit.
Photo credit: suezoo from morguefile.com
You can start inside your house by keeping a covered pail
in your garage or under your sink, until it goes out to
your bin.
Any number of things can go into a compost pile. Kitchen
waste is the biggest item.
This can consist of a number of items. Kitchen waste such as
grounds from the coffee pot, tea bags and egg shells add up
pretty fast, which are all acceptable. Vegetable cuttings
are perfect to add in.
Protein-based items like meat or fish do not go in the pile.
Also, don't add things like animal droppings, or dirty diapers.
Things like leaves, lawn clippings, and plant cuttings are acceptable. Wood shavings and straw can go in as well.
This is a good start to being on your way to composting.
Once you have an accumulation, take it out to your bin, and
just throw it in.
Have an interest in worms? Vermiculture is another great
form of composting. See
Worm Composting Scraps
and have some fun learning how.
Think you could make one yourself? This person didn't seem to have much of a problem, and done very cheaply as well. Watch the video and maybe you will be inspired to try making your own homemade-compost-tumbler.
The compost heap heats as more items are added. This means
the decomposition process has begun. Add some worms to
the pile. They will help with this process immediately.
Mix the compost up from time to time by giving it a turn
with a shovel or rake, and then leave it for awhile. If
the mulch is dryish, add some water. Don't soak it, just
a drink. If you are using a compost-bin with a lid instead
of compost-tumblers, lift up the lid so that it can get
some sunshine for a day. These types of bins are usually
referred to as pallet-boxes. They have a lid that lifts up
and a sliding panel at the front, that enables you to take
the contents from the bottom.
Air circulating through the pile helps the heating process.
Keep your pile even, but stir it up to get the air into it
occasionally and give it a boost. This is one of the
benefits of compost-tumblers. They are up off of the ground
and you can turn them just like a drum from time to time.
They are quite efficient and well contained. They also make
the manual labour of composting less strenuous. They also
hold moisture longer and compost items quickly. Best of all
you don't have to worry about rodents or other animals
getting into them.
Whatever kind of compost heap you start, it should be
enclosed to some degree. Animals and flies can be attracted
to it and you don't want this. You don't want it to smell
either.
If compost is forming properly, it in fact should
not have an odor at all.
It will take the course of a few months or more but this
will reduce in size and the contents at the bottom will be
turned into a nutritious mixture for your gardens whether
you use compost-tumblers or another form of bin.
Another way to effectively compost is to bag up leaves in
the fall and fill up dark garbage bags. Pile them and let
them sit over the winter months. You can put a bit of
dirt into them as well.
This mix will get very mucky, but in the Spring, it makes a great muclch for around trees and shrubs.
Not only will it help to keep weeds from forming, but it will stay moisturized as well.
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