Hi Heather. It seems like everyone has a different preference, but I started my composting last year with a garbage can, and had DH put a spigot near the bottom for "tea" and the times when I wet it too much and needed to get excess water out, and I threw some drainage rocks in the bottom, a little past the spigot so it wouldn't get clogged. I turn it at least once a week, usually twice, so it gets enough air, but we have a fly issue in my city in the summer so I didn't want holes in the first one, so they wouldn't be attracted to the bin with "fresh" rotten stuff. Once the compost seems almost done, I transfer it to another garbage can with holes drilled around the top of can to finish off. I have gotten some beautiful compost that way. I chose to this method because I live on a quarter acre and just didn't have the room for an open pile. My MIL has an open one, and that works for her, LOL and my best friend has the 2*4 type, that works just as well, but they live on several acres.

Too funny about getting your mom's leaves, DH thought I was nuts b/c I brought back 2 big buckets of fall leaves from my visit to my best friend in Asheville last month - I needed some leaves and mine hadn't fallen off the trees yet!

Oh and I tell my MIL that the only condition to her visiting us is she needs to bring her horse poo for my bin!

Have fun!

Lisa B

Heather,

I use a piece of 1/4" hardware cloth formed into the shape of a cylinder and held together by two of those colored metal clips that they sell in the checkout line at the big box stores. Cheap and easy. Since it is not exactly ornamental, I keep it in a corner of the back yard where it is hidden behind a bush.

John

I also have a small lot, and a lot of urban scavenger wildlife, with a very serious possum population and periodic forays from the coons. I went with the $120 envirocycle, which struck me as pretty much outrageous at the time. But it is well-closed, yet well-aerated, spins easily, and has a reservoir for compost tea. Clean Air Gardening has it, as do several other places.

Because it rolls around, it's easy to roll it off its reservoir and empty it where I want the compost. Easy was important to me because I have way too many hard jobs to do in the garden. And I use the tea too.

The garbage can idea is probably just as good if you don't have a critter issue. And way cheaper.

I actually liked my composter so much, I got another one so I can switch them periodically. And I make lots of compost just with garden trash and kitchen waste. I look at the expense as mind peace, because each time I take egg shells and coffee grounds and the stump end of broccoli out there, I feel better about my little place in the world. And if I were more energetic, I could switch them, and have usable compost every two months, way faster than open piles. (I get around to it about every three or four months) I even put the bills and credit card offers I used to shred into the composter. They decompose fast. And I can't think of a better way to thwart the garbage can/recycling bin identity thieves!

Mine is the silly expensive option, and I'm a little embarrassed even mentioning it. I'm normally pretty frugal about most things. But I'm awfully happy with that splurge.

So there you have another option. Or a Christmas present request. We gave my parents one for Christmas last year, actually.

Susannah

It is best if you can try one out if you are looking to purchase one . By that I mean your body and what it can and cannot do. I bought a bin that you use your foot to turn. Well once its loaded my leg cant quite muster the strength to turn it. Also like natives and veggies said you may need two. Because at some point you want to use the stuff but if you keep adding new it will never be finished. I have one bin. several worm bins in the garage for food waste and paper and several piles on my land.
So think of your body, do you have a bad back, are you too short to reach are you, too Tall to bend over how about the opening is it a pain? Can critters get in? Maybe go through the motions and see what your body tells you.
I remember one elderly guy asking about this tall barrel with a crooked fork you t-w-i-s-t-e-d the compost with. I asked him how heavy he thought the wet compost might get and if he thought he could bend into that barrel and twist the contents.It was obvious he couldn't.

Some good points are made. When I was trying to figure out which way to go I had read some reviews stating that once the bin had alot in it, it was very hard to turn the ones that rotated. Being on the smallish-side I decided it would be better for me to mix the compost by hand, and had DH modify a garden hoe into a pitchfork for me (the hoe was cheaper than buying a pitchfork!)
And I see I am not the only one who thinks two bins are better than one...my thinking was the same, it would never be finished if I kept adding my kitchen waste to it each week!
I never thought about putting my junk mail in there...I will have to try that, I really like that idea.
You will be amazed at how little trash goes to the curb between the recycling and the composting, at least I was...we couldn't recycle at the old house. So now instead of filling the trash can full or overflowing twice a week we only put a bag or two in the can once a week!

Go to the GW compost forum and read , read, read . The list of 245 things you can compost is very interesting . I'm not sure of that number but it's something like that .
I use left over fence wire formed in a circle . Have tried many other kinds of bins and find this the easiest . I live on a ranch and have had no problem with critters . I would have just piles if I did not have 4 big dogs .
I am a lazy , cold composter . I rarely turn my huge piles . I still get lovely compost just not as quickly as a turning container system .

The motto of the Compost Forum is : IABC = It All Becomes Compost!

Start with a pile on the ground - today . You will find the best system for your life along the way .

I recommend making one from chicken wire fence and the green metal fence posts. It's extremely quick and inexpensive. Mine is 6 years old, and now finally can use the chicken wire being redone. I make it with 3 sides, and one side being open. You must turn it by hand if you want to, but I'm too lazy and let it compost as is. Not to mention my bin is 6' x 6', too large for me to want to mess with. I harvest the compost from the bottom edge, where the compost meets the native soil. My chickens do dig around in it to turn it a little bit.

Gary

Would anyone be willing to post pictures of their compost piles?
I would love to see all the different set ups.
Thanks

Thanks for the feedback! I bought a great book on composting, and am learning a lot about what to put in it and how much. I think I will probably start with some chicken wire lined with cardboard to contain my compost, and then once I get the yard cleaned up and can reach the corner of the yard behind the shed (I can't even get back there right now!), I'll reconsider whether or not I wish to switch composting methods. My problem right now is getting enough inexpensive composting material together to be able to have a garden bed ready for vegetable gardening around March.

Today I'm just trying to get the weeds under control (the weeds in and around the raised bed are mostly dead at this point, but they are 2-3 feet tall). I am cutting or pulling the worst, then will lay down cardboard, then cover with leaves and debris, then soil and manure and just let it sit for awhile. Then I'll see where I stand in a few months. By then I should have some nice compost going, so I can work on some other beds in the yard.

Hopefully I'll get the hang of this whole gardening thing!

Thanks again!

Heather

Here's a pic of the one I described above. Turns out the hardware cloth is 1/2 inch, not 1/4 inch as previously stated. You can probably guess it's been a while since I turned it based on the tomato and salvia volunteers growing through the hardware cloth.

I would put the soil, manure, dead weeds, everything under the cardboard, and then put mulch on top. That's what I've been doing with good results.

I'm cheap and lazy.Got 3 wood pallets at the county's recycling place, stood them on end and lashed them together. Got a pitchfork to turn and use a plastic milk crate to "sift". We have a plastic coffee can in the kit for scraps, add yard debris, cuttings, etc. I choose the lazy man's method...don't worry too much about brown/green issues, turn when I feel like it and let the Florida sun do the rest. I've become almost o/c about the stuff I put in. I dump our kit can about 3 times a week ...coffee grounds,tea bags,fruit peels,egg shells. Our county has compost for free pick up...use theirs for fertilization and my own stuff for veggies soil mix.

Susannah---I am interested in hearing more about the Envirocycle. I'm interested in something to make cow manure tea with. Would this be the best to use or is there something better for what I want to do? I buy my compost because I need much more than I am willing to make. But, I'm thinking that making manure tea would be perfect.

Christine

Christine,

I think it would work for that, but there are probably cheaper and easier solutions. Actually, I think the garbage can idea, with a mulch/gravel mix in the bottom, and a bunch of really small holes punched in the bottom, maybe even with a bit of screen at the bottom to keep the goop in, might work better. Then you could just put a large tray or bucket under it and collect that way. A bucket only slightly larger than the garbage can, so the can fits snugly into the bucket, would help prevent a mosquito problem.

The envirocycle doesn't have a way for rain water to get it, it's just not completely closed up, so rain water does get in, and the stuff I compost has water in it that needs to seep out. That's where I get the tea. But if you're looking to steep some cow manure for awhile, it might not be the fastest solution. You could hose it down periodically I guess.

susannah

Susannah---Thanks for your thoughts. Since this composter is pricey, I would like to use something cheaper if at all possible. However, the envirocycle is quite an interesting concept.

Christine

Christine, I have mine up on a concrete block, and had DH put a PVC spigot in on the bottom of the trash can, so when I want tea, I just open the spigot over a container and let it drain, and tilt the barrel as much as I can to get the most out. The rocks in the bottom keep any junk from clogging up the spigot.

Lisa

Thanks for the feedback. FYI, I decided to go with a cheap fix for now. I got 25 ft of hardware cloth for $13 at HD and four wooden stakes and a staple gun. I'm gonna try securing the four stakes in the ground, and then stapling the plastic hardware cloth to them, forming a three-sided bin on the ground. We'll see how that does for now. I think that I even got enough "cloth" to make two of them.

Lisa---Is there any way that you could post a picture? Your set up sounds like what I want to do.

Here you go, sorry it took a bit for me to get it all together.

The bin...It really could use some holes around the top part to help keep it from being too moist but like I said, we have a fly issue during the summer so I don't want to make my yard inviting to them, so I just make it work, I scoop everything out into my garden cart, and then layer it back in with dry leaves if it's getting to wet in there.

Inside...

The "finisher/finished" bin:

Beautiful compost lol:

Lisa

Lisa---Thanks so much for taking the time to post the photos. I was wondering what kind of spiget you used. It appears to be an irrigation shut-off valve. I can see that it is a better choice than something that would resemble a faucet which would clog easily. Now I know what to do to make my manure tea.

Christine