Compost Tumblers For Sale

Hello! I hope you enjoy the article.

Summer’s just around the corner and you know what that means – barbeques, family gatherings, picnics, beach parties, and even more barbeques! This is the time of year that all your good dishware and silverware stay in their cupboards and drawers and you utilize nothing but disposable plates and cutlery. But did you ever consider how much waste that adds up at all the landfills? So many plastic utensils end up piling up landfills and aren’t being recycled, because who would even think to recycle that? A better alternative that does the job and is good for the environment that’s now catching on in the market is biodegradable cutlery.

Made from corn starch and other biodegradable “plastic” fillers, eco-friendly utensils are on the rise in popularity. Contrary to belief, they will not fall apart on you if you use them in hot items like soups, and they will not break if you use them in cold foods or desserts like ice cream. Biodegradable utensils work like their normal plastic counterparts; the only difference is that they won’t pile up in landfills and can even be used in your compost bins.

For the avid gardener who likes to compost, these eco-friendly utensils can be highly beneficial to your garden. After you’re done using these utensils, toss them into your compost bin or heap instead of the trash can. In most cases, the packaging that the utensils come in is also biodegradable, which means you can add that into your compost bin, too.

Since they’re made out of corn starch and other eco-friendly materials, these biodegradable utensils will not harm your compost heap, adding to your nutrient-rich compost. Do keep in mind that if you plan to toss these utensils into your compost bin that it can take anywhere from six to 18 months for them to fully decompose.

So the next time you’re planning your big summer barbeque or food outing, consider using the eco-friendly alternative versus the regular plastic ware. Not only would you be reducing waste at landfills and giving back to the earth’s soil, you’ll feel good knowing that you’re doing your part to protect the earth while enjoying the barbeque.

Good luck!

Hello! I hope you enjoy the article.

If you’re thinking about starting up a family-friendly composting project, why not consider doing one that involves worms? That’s right, worm composting, also known as vermicomposting, is a fun-filled way to get the compost you desire for your garden. All you and your kids have to do is keep the worms happy by feeding them and they’ll do all the work for you. Here’s how you get started:

All you need is a plastic 10 gallon worm bin with drainage holes on the bottom (home made or store bought is just fine), a tight fitting lid to keep the worms in the dark, moist bedding made out of one inch newspaper strips or sawdust, a pound of red wiggler worms that you can get from your local fish bait shop or from internet retailer sites like Composters.com, and some food waste like banana peels, fruit rinds and vegetable stalks. Be sure to keep in mind that this will get a bit messy, so it might be best to do this outside especially if you’re children are going to be involved. If it gets messy, it’s okay!

Start by halfway filling the worm bin with the newspaper strips; moisten the strips once you’ve reached the halfway mark. Once the newspaper is damp, push it to one side of the bin and repeat the process until the bin is full but not entirely packed and make sure there are no standing puddles collecting at the bottom. Add half a cup of sawdust or soil so that the worms have some grit to work with. Go ahead and add your pound of worms and watch as they wiggle their way down into the soil and newspaper. Next, bury your food waste into the bedding a few inches deep and cover the bedding with a five page blanket of damp newspapers.

After a few days you should notice some positive results – the worms are digging in and out of the bedding, eating the food waste, soil and newspaper, digesting it and leaving behind worm castings (explain to your kids that it’s poop!). It’s the worm castings that you really want for your garden. To keep your worms happy keep adding food wastes every few days or so and they’ll keep producing that rich black gold for you. Have fun and don’t be afraid to get down and dirty!

Good luck!

Hello! I hope you enjoy the article.

Who would’ve thought that other than singing and conversing with your plants that composting would be another great way to solidify that wonderful human-plant relationship? Not only is composting a terrific way to add needed nutrients to prolong the life of your plants and garden, it’s also a fun way to bond with and get involved with your plants.

Like feeding and caring for your child or pet, composting for your plants is an ideal process to jumpstart your plant’s life. Composting is much easier than you think as long as you’re committed to the process. Even if you’re the type of person who’s always on the go and doesn’t really have a lot of time, all you really need is just food scraps to add to your plants’ soil. Granted that this is a simple premise, not every single food waste can be composted. No-no’s like dairy products, bones, meats and fats can’t be composted. Not only that, they won’t decompose properly, smell real icky after a day and attract unwanted visitors like rodents.

Scraps like fruit rinds, vegetables, crushed eggshells, and even coffee grounds are terrific for composting. Coffee grounds especially act as activators (they generate heat) because of the high amount of nitrogen that they turn up. The aforementioned goodies act as a buffet for itty bitty microbes, making the composting process quick, easy and effortless. (Disclaimer: by quick I mean anywhere from three to eight months).

After you’ve gathered up your food scraps and have placed them in your compost bin or directly into your soil and burying them (the latter method is probably best for composting in the garden), we play the waiting game. Yes, it takes a while, but patience is a virtue. After a few months, you’ll have a wonderful pile of rich compost ready to add to your garden or house plants. Simply mix in your newly made batch of compost to your soil and your plants and garden will thank you with wonderfully blooming flowers, healthy and deliciously yummy fruits and vegetables, and a long lifespan that both you and your plants will truly appreciate.

Good luck!

Hello! I hope you enjoy the article.

If you’re looking for another way to make a positive impact on the planet, in addition to recycling, look no further than the wonderful world of composting. In basic terms, composting is the act of breaking down organic food and yard waste into a potent soil amendment called humus. But actually, composting is a bit more. It is about providing an environment where this process occurs quicker, usually in a compost bin or compost tumbler, and with the correct ratios of certain organic matter – you can’t just go throwin’ everything in and hope for the best.

Composting really is an art. Depending on your climate and time of year, your pile may need more or less of certain things to achieve the optimum carbon to nitrogen ratio for the organic matter to properly break down. Also, composting is not a free-for-all for your food scraps and waste. There are many things that are no-no’s as far as the compost bin goes, including meat and bones, grease and oils, dairy products, fecal matter (that’s right, no poo), diseased plants and weeds. Actually, it may be better to give a list of compostable items, so here goes:

From the yard: chemical-free grass clippings, dry leaves, shrub and tree waste, sawdust and wood chips from untreated wood, straw and hay, dead plants and flowers, potting soil, dead insects.

From the kitchen: coffee grounds and filters, tea bags (no staples) and leaves, fruit and veggie scraps, corn husks, crushed eggshells, hair from brushes, cereal (oatmeal for example), bread and flour, leftover pasta without oil or dairy-based sauces, rice, all-natural fibers like cotton, shredded black and white newspaper, paper towels.

All you need to get started is a compost bin of some sort, a suitable place to put it, and some basic information that can be found in any composting guide. If you’re an apartment dweller without a yard, there are smaller indoor units that can be kept indoors or on a patio. And don’t worry if you’re not into gardening, if you produce rich, fertile humus, there will be no shortage of people vying to take it off your hands. So start composting today, its fun for the whole family and is great for the environment.

Good luck!

Hello! I hope you enjoy the article.

I always hear the question: “What can I compost?” or “Can I compost that?”  Well here are some ideas on composting and some information on stuff to compost and what not to compost.   Composting leads to an excellent source of material for adding to houseplants or enriching garden soil. It is the way to recycle your yard and kitchen wastes, and is a critical step in reducing the volume of garbage needlessly sent to landfills for disposal. It’s easy to learn how to compost.

Fruits and vegetables are always ok and should be a staple of your composting activities.  Leaves and lawn cuttings are good, but there are some types of lawn stuff that should not be composted.   No ivy, dandelions or tomato plants.  Tomato plants carry diseases that you do not want in your bin and the ivy is very resilient.  It will probably take root and grow rather than compost.  Same thing with dandelions.

Dairy products are generally a NO.  Do not throw cheese, milk, creams or yogurts into your compost bin as they will attract unwanted critters and rats.  However, eggshells are fine.  Cooked rice is generally a no as it is a haven for dangerous bacterias.

Household products: This is an area of confusion as some items are compostable and others you would think should be are not.  Here’s an example…newspaper is good…magazines are bad.  The magazine ink is toxic.  Wrapping paper is bad, cardboard is fine. Brown paper bags are also good.

Most leftover foods are ok, but be careful as you do not want to attract unwanted critters such as rats or  raccoons to your compost bin.  Hope these ideas help!

Good luck!

Hello! I hope you enjoy the article.

Composting for your backyard garden or for your indoor plants is a healthy and beneficial process for your plants and the environment. For those who want to start the fun and fruitful process of composting, you have to be sure to keep in mind the good stuff you want to put into your compost. If you’ve read my earlier article Blacklisted Items to Keep Out of Your Compost, then you should already be well aware that things like bones, meat, wood ash and pet waste can be very harmful to your compost and garden. This article will explain to you what you should include in your composting and how it’s beneficial to the overall process.

When you’re ready to begin composting, whether it’s in a compost bin, tumbler or even out in the open, be sure to include these excellent ingredients to make your ideal batch of compost. Food scraps are a great and easily accessible source of waste for composting mainly because every single household produces it almost daily. Scraps like fruit rinds, old vegetable leaves and stalks, and even coffee grounds make for excellent composting. Coffee grounds are especially rich in nitrogen and work as activators, generating heat and exciting microbes to keep the decomposing process moving. But remember, and I can’t emphasize this enough, never ever throw in any meat, dairy products, grease, oils and/or bones; these items will not compose properly or take too long to do so. They also smell bad and will attract rodents and other wildlife.

Animal manure is a great source rich in nitrogen that also works as an activator, which is always a bonus for your compost. The best stuff comes from grass eating animals like llamas, cows, chickens, sheep and rabbits. Never ever throw in any cat, dog or human waste into your compost because for one thing, that’s just disgusting! More importantly, pet and human manure carry all sorts of diseases, parasites and who knows what else, and you wouldn’t want that in your garden.

Leaves, grass clippings, dead plants and seedless weeds make for great composting ingredients. Leaves are especially great for composting because of their versatility; if they’re dry then they’ll release carbon and if they’re fresh they’ll release nitrogen in your compost. The same can be said about grass clippings. Weeds can be kind of tricky but as long as you carefully inspect that none of the weeds are ready to seed and are free of any pesticides or poison, you should be set. Other items like straw, hay, hair and even lint also make for good composting ingredients; talk about recycling!

Always keep in mind that as long as long as you include the aforementioned items and avoid the bad stuff, you’ll achieve the ideal black gold soil for your garden through this fun and organic process.

*Referenced from Home Composting Made Easy by C. Forrest McDowell, PhD and Tricia Clark-McDowell, 2002.

Good luck!

Hello! I hope you enjoy the article.

Here’s a cheery little thought that you can meditate over: have you ever opened up your compost bin and find all sorts of little critters ambling about in there? I can tell you that I have, and from what experience and many composting teachers have taught me, most of the time that’s normal and okay. Little roomies like fruit flies, fly larvae, and even worms will show up to feast upon the yummy organic matter you have stored in your compost bin. Even though you may not have sent out an official invitation, it’s kind of funny to see these little critters going to town in your compost.

How does it happen? Well, most of the time you’ll get visitors just by opening up the lid of the bin. Fruit flies will definitely show up if you’ve got fruit rinds and vegetable stalks in your compost. If you noticed them flying out of your bin when you opened it up, don’t worry, the flies probably flew through the aerating holes of the bin. Most of the time the flies will lay eggs in your compost and they’ll hatch, which may be another reason why you keep seeing them buzzing about. If you find that there seems to be an entire colony of flies and bugs hanging about your bin, again don’t worry. This happens in the beginning stages of composting, especially if you have a slew of fruit rinds in the bin. Once everything starts to decompose, there will be less and less fruit flies hanging about.

If you keep an open bottom compost bin in the ground for easy compost tea evacuation, you may have noticed some worms wiggling about in your bin. This is absolutely fantastic since worms are a vital part in the composting process. As the worms are wiggling their way around you compost bin and back into the soil, it speeds up the process, which results in rich, black soil. For an added benefit, you should add a pound of red wiggler worms in your compost bin in the beginning just so the composting process is sped up. Once there’s nothing left for the worms to munch on, they’ll move out of your bin and burrow about in your soil.

Critters like bugs and worms aren’t always a bad thing; for composting, they’re essential! Think of it this way; as long as they’re not bothering you and helping out with the composting process, everybody wins!

Good luck!

Hello! I hope you enjoy the article.

Behind every scientific equation in composting lies an art form that’s different for everyone. Composting isn’t necessarily a hard thing to do; other than the materials, equipment, waste and space, all it truly needs on your end is patience and commitment. We’re not exactly painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but we’re going to make a healthy, sustainable garden fit for one with just composting alone! Remember, it’s a trial and error method until you find the perfect scientific solution to make your ideal batch of compost.

Let’s begin with an explanation of the carbon/nitrogen ratio, or the C/N ratio. In order for you to have a successful, usable batch of compost you have to have the right balance between the brown stuff and the green stuff. Get your mind out of the gutter! It’s not what you really think it is! The brown stuff, like dried leaves, tree bark, straw and hay have a lot of carbon, and the green stuff like fresh grass clippings, fresh leaves, chicken manure, fruit wastes and food scraps have a lot of nitrogen. This is where the simple scientific equations come in; actually it might be better if you think of it more as a cooking recipe because it really is!

According to Home Composting Made Easy, it’s best if you try to achieve the ideal 30:1 C/N ratio for your compost. This average ratio basically describes the chemical composition of your materials, NOT 30 times the amount of brown stuff to one of the green. With this ratio you’re bound to reach a hot temperature of about 140 degrees Fahrenheit, which is ideal for the microbes in your compost to eat up all the carbon and nitrogen rich goodies.

Another recipe that you can follow is the “2 parts green, 1 part brown” recipe also found in Home Composting Made Easy. This basically means that you can achieve the 30:1 to 50:1 ratio, the latter being ideal for low temperature compost batches, by including two parts of green stuff to one part brown stuff. For example, if you mix grass clippings (17:1), non-diseased and seedy weeds (20:1) with dried leaves (60:1) and divide that up by three, you have a product of 32:1, which is close to the 30:1 average. Of course, you should play around with your recipe to find the perfect fit for your batches. As long as you don’t have too much green or too much brown, you should have a successful batch of ready to use compost!

Remember, composting is a science and an art form. Keep working at it and use these basics to find the perfect C/N ratio.

*Referenced from Home Composting Made Easy by C. Forrest McDowell, PhD and Tricia Clark-McDowell, 2002.

Good luck!

Hello! I hope you enjoy the article.

For some, figuring out where they can start composting can be a bit of a challenge. After all, there are a few things one should keep in mind, like how far the compost heap should be from their home, how to keep it hidden away from nosy neighbors and prying eyes, and how to keep rodents and wildlife from digging around in the compost. And while there are a couple options like keeping your compost under wraps in a compost tumbler or compost bin, there are consumers out there who look for other aesthetically attractive options. One such option is a bench that doubles as a composting bin.

Dual functional furniture is always a plus, and owning a bench that offers a composting bin option is a terrific way to hide your compost in plain sight. You may want to consider this alternative versus a normal compost bin or compost tumbler if you feel that composting out in the open may ruin or distract from your natural landscape. With a composting bench, you can fearlessly hide your compost out in the middle of your garden without it taking away from the landscape.

Some companies offer dual functional composting benches, but it you’re the do it yourself type, you can make a building project out of it. Just be sure to keep about 20 inches of height from the seat to the ground for a good sized composting bin. Another good design feature to keep in mind is to add hinges to the seat so that you can lift it up whenever you need to add water or turn the pile. It’s also important to keep in mind that your compost needs ventilation in order for it to decompose properly, so make sure that there’s plenty of slits all around the bottom bin. Be sure however, to make them small enough so that small animals can’t get in. And don’t worry about any smells coming out from beneath the bench; as long as you’re following the proper carbon to nitrogen ration (green parts to brown parts), and you’re regularly turning and adding water to your compost, it should sm

Good luck!

Hello! I hope you enjoy the article.

I’ve been composting for quite some time now, and I can honestly say that for the first few trials I was having difficulty keeping the area around my compost wildlife and insect-free. Composting is both a science and an art form, and I was foolish to think at the beginning that I could get it down on the first try. I followed all the directions, read all the web forums and even carried the 1 over to the other side, yet I was coming across the same problem: insects and animals were invading my compost! But now that I know better, let me share my experiences with you so that you don’t have to waste as much time as I did on fixing the problem.

First of all, don’t ever place any meat products, fatty foods, oils and bones in your compost bins, compost tumblers, or piles. This is a recipe for disaster since animals are generally attracted to these products and will be more than likely to dig around in your compost. Dairy products like cheese are also considered a no-no in terms of adding it to your compost. Not only do these products get smelly after a few hours, they also do not decompose well so it’s best to just avoid these items all together.

To avoid this situation, be sure to use a tight fitting lid atop your compost bin, better yet, make sure it’s rodent proof. As long as the lid is tight rodents like raccoons won’t be able to jimmy the bin open and feast upon the cut-up fruit rinds and veggie leaves. In addition, remember to turn your compost pile a couple times a week to turn up the heat in your bin so that the organic matter can decompose properly; this will also help in turning off animals from you compost.

Since you’ll be using fruit rinds, vegetable stalks and leaves along with other acceptable food wastes such as coffee grinds, you’re bound to come across the problem of flies and gnats hanging around your compost (this also applies for kitchen composting). Work around this problem by covering up your compost and by adding brown matter (no, not that) to your compost. Yard waste such as dried up leaves, hay, cut-up wood chippings and even sawdust mixed into your compost will balance the nitrogen levels and mask the fruity odors. Using some already made compost or soil will also do the trick.

Learn from my mistakes and take these tips to heart. After all, there’s nothing worse than looking our in your backyard and fining a zoo of animals nosing around in your compost bin like they’ve found the jackpot!

Good luck!