Who loves their composter?

Beautiful new compost bins, Portland. One question, though. Are you going to keep it on that concrete? Because if you do, you are going to be cleaning your concrete alot as liquid leaks out the bottom.
My compost bin is very much like yours, but with three compartments. It's meant for me to turn the compost from one compartment to the other, but I don't bother with that. I just pile it in and poke it with a fork to see if it's done. It makes the prettiest stuff you've ever seen. The only thing I don't like is having to sift it, just because there is so much of it and some things break down more quickly than others. I don't want to put twigs and large chunks back into the garden and I don't have a small shredder (although I am having a bit of an affair with my large chipper/shredder. I really love that guy. He was cheap, but he sure is easy.)

Pix I am deciding to keep it there, where it is in an ideal location since it is not taking up planting space in my small yard, or maybe I will move it closer to where I will plant vegetables. I am waiting for the sun (yawn) so I can determine just where the vegetables should be. Looks like I may need a shredder. Cheap and easy sounds good, especially for the large guy. Hey - you started it!

Maybe raise the bins a bit and put a catcher of some kind under so there won't be a mess.

Portland1, your compost bin looks like mine years ago in Louisiana- I built a 3 stall one all out of recycled pallets- I would start the materials in one, move to the next, and so on until it was ready- I loved it, and wish I had space in my present home for one, but I don't. I just purchased an extra container for my Vita-Mix, now I use the old one and just make "smoothies" out of all my kitchen waste, then just pour it directly into the garden. So far it is working very well. (A Vita-Mix will puree just about anything!)

What a great 'garden idea'. Compost over there would probably process quickly in a bin.

JoParrott - my neighbor, who is a garden designer, just collects a few days worth of kitchen waste, then buries it in a hole in the garden. I love my new compost bin. If someone had told me a few years ago when I was living in the middle of San Francisco and working in a high-rise corporate world that I would get excited about rotting yard debris I would have said no never!

Funny how your priorities change ^_^

Priorities do change - now instead of high heels I buy mud boots and worms. The change has been good for me and I feel at peace.

I the runoff from compost bins compost tea?

Judi,

There is nothing like the peace and self satisfaction that digging in the dirt gives you! You know that you are truely converted when a suitor that buys you a load of dirt for a special occasion wins out over any of the other "traditional" trinkets!

Portland, yes, in a way the runoff is compost tea. It's a good idea to raise the bins if you can figure a way to do it and collect the stuff. It's really good for the soil and plants, but not so pretty on the concrete.

The way your neighbor buries the compost works great. I do that with weeds that haven't gone to seed. I read in some gardening book way back that some gardeners dig a good sized hole in several places in each bed , then layer weeds and soil into the hole as the season progresses, filling it as they go. I guess that would be an excellent plan if I didn't step in the hole.

I wonder if I can find a large plastic or metal "thing" about 7' x 4' with very low sides, maybe a few inches, and set the composter inside it. Hhhmmmmm. I could raise it on concrete blocks but then I would need to put a bottom on it.

Pix LOL I would also step in the hole and break an ankle. Then I would turn into compost.

Judi,

If you raised it on concrete cookies (the 1" rectangular ones)around the edge, I would think that you could make a bottom with the same material that you made the sides out of and use auto drip pans underneath. If you spaced the reinforcements on the bottom in the dimensions of the drip pans you choose, it would work just like the ones on the freezers...easy to pull out and would keep your concrete clean.

I know that these come in various sizes, and can be found everywhere, including places like Target and Wallyworld. This was the first one that I found as an example.


http://www.buyhardwaresupplies.com/?t=5&itemNumber=8035115





This message was edited Mar 29, 2009 11:14 AM

Rarejem, that is just what I had in mind but just didn't have the energy to try to get it from my brain, through the keyboard, and into the text box. LOL! I think that would work, though, and she'd have a ready supply of concentrated 'tea'.

Portland, that's just what happens to me when I leave holes around the garden.

Pixy, great minds think alike! I however am sitting here playing on the puter and trying to find anything to keep me occupied and give me an excuse not to slosh out through the snow to the greenhouse, so typing it out was kind of a procrastination technique. As is this.... guess I should probably bite the bullet and get some stuff done though.

Nice compost bin Judi!^_^

Susan105

I use 2 Rubbermaid compost bins. I already had one and then a friend gave me hers. So, 2 are wonderful because you throw things in starting in the fall. It is easy to turn things once in awhile with a pitch fork, if you heap everything to one side. Then, you come along and shift it over to the other side and so on, now and then. In the spring or even as i now do it, 1 year later, you begin the other bin and Only Use That One For Dumping. The old one now is ready and there is no more dumping. Only very nice compost. I still have to sift it though if I am going to use it as potting soil. Now, I just keep dumping in the newly started one for 1 year. And, so it goes. The composting year rolls by. But, use it!! It is wonderful healthy stuff and smells Oh So Good!!

It is so nice to have a composting spot! As I collect things around the yard I no longer have to ponder where I will put the stuff since my yard bin was always full. Yeah!