Compost Tumblers For Sale

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Have you ever thought about what actually happens when things rot? It may be that, like me, you have got confused reading garden books, as they are usually full of vague meanings for words like `stabilised humus’!

Many of you may think that making compost is an unpleasant or difficult process – well, I can assure you, it’s not!

For a fast track way of changing crude organic materials into humus (something resembling soil) read `a compost pile’. The word humus, however, is quite often misunderstood, together with the words organic matter and compost

Making compost is really a very simple process. It can become a natural part of your yard or gardening maintenance if done properly. If you are mowing your lawn or weeding your flower-beds, making compost doesn’t have to take any more effort than bagging up your garden waste.

To me, astounding as it may sound, handling well-made compost is actually a very pleasant experience. Don’t but put off by compost’s `dirty, nasty’ origins. There is little similarity between the healthy-smelling black or brown, crumbly substance dug out of a compost pile and the garbage, leaves, manure, grass clippings and other waste products from which it began.

To define composting precisely, it means ‘enhancing the consumption of crude organic matter by a complex ecology of biological decomposition organisms.’ Many raw organic materials are eaten and re-eaten by thousands of tiny organisms from the smallest (bacteria) to the largest (earthworms).

The components are altered gradually and recombined. Unfortunately, many gardeners use the terms compost, organic matter, and humus as interchangeable identities. However, there are important differences in meaning that need to be explained.

This organic matter food gardeners are vitally concerned with is actually formed by growing plants that manufacture the substances of life. Most organic molecules are very large and complex – inorganic materials are much simpler. Of course, animals can break down, reassemble and destroy organic matter but the one thing they cannot do is create it.

Only plants can make organic materials like proteins, cellulose, and sugars and they produce this from inorganic minerals derived from air, water or soil. The elements plants use to build include magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, sodium, cobalt, zine, iron boron, molybdenum, carbon, manganese, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen

Thus, it is organic matter from both land and sea plants that fuels the entire chain of life from worms to whales. Because humans are most familiar with large animals, they rarely stop to consider that the soil is also filled with animal life consuming organic matter or each other.

Our rich earth is crowded with single cell organisms like bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, rotifers and protozoa. Soil life forms increase in complexity to microscopic round worms called nematodes, various kinds of molluscs like slugs and snails (some so tiny the gardener has no idea they are even there), thousands of often microscopic soil-dwelling members of the spider family (arthropods), insects and, of course, the larger soil animals most of us are more familiar with such as moles.

The entire sum of all this organic matter – living plants, decomposing plant materials, and all the animals, living or dead, large and small – is sometimes called biomass. One realistic way to gauge the fertility of any particular soil body is to weigh the amount of biomass it sustains.

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Compost is good for the garden and great for the environment. When kitchen scraps end up in landfills, they give off methane gas, which is bad for the environment. When used in the garden, compost adds nutrients to the soil that your plants need to be as healthy as possible. Unfortunately, it will probably not give them everything they need, so you will need to augment your compost with organic fertilizer such as fish emulsion or kelp that can be found at your garden store.

Buying or Building a Compost Bin

If you are handy and like to build things, you may want to build your own compost bin. There are probably some fine plans for building a bin like this online. Otherwise, buying a compost bin such as the Earth Machine, which is what I have, will work great, too. Some cities actually provide free compost bins to residents because it helps cut down on the amount of trash that goes into landfills. The location that you choose for your compost bin may have an impact on how fast your compost happens. Compost will generally happen faster in a sunnier location.

Getting Your Compost On!

Once you get your compost bin set up, you can either follow the directions that come with the bin if you purchased one, or start with 4 to 6 inches of “brown” material, such as dead leaves or straw. Then you can begin incorporating “green material” in the form of kitchen scraps such as eggshells, fruit and vegetable scraps, rice, pasta, teabags, coffee grounds, and houseplant cuttings. Do not put meat, bones, or other animal parts into your compost pile. Also, do not put any diseased plant matter from your backyard into the pile. Whenever you add green material to the pile, be sure to add some brown material and give the pile a stir to incorporate the additions into the pile.

Turning the Pile

To insure that your compost is running at maximum efficiency, you will want to turn the pile frequently. How often you turn your pile depends on how fast you want to produce compost for your garden. Some people turn the pile every 7 to 10 days, while some turn it once a month. Figure out what is best for you and plan accordingly. Turning the pile more frequently will produce faster results. Also, if the compost pile is dry, you should add some water to moisten it. If it seems overly wet, try to increase ventilation to dry it. The Earth Machine has a lid with ventilation control that allows you to control airflow to interior of the compost bin.

Compost Tea & Compost Starter

You can find recipes for a compost activating tea online or buy a compost starter at your local garden store that will activate your compost pile faster.

Using Compost

Once you have created your compost, you can either dig it into your garden soil if you are doing a fresh planting, or spread it on top of the soil around your plants. This will benefit your soil and your plants.

Even if you do not use the compost in your garden, you will be doing a service to the environment by putting less garbage in the form of food scraps into the landfills. Your compost pile will keep breaking down even if you do not remove the compost for garden use, so you don’t need to worry about it filling up.

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Biodegradable waste is a type of compost that has elements which breakdown more easily. Bioplastics are plastics that come from plants sources like hemp and soy beans as well as corn starch, as opposed to traditional plastics which are derived from petroleum. Biodegradable waste is cheap and good for our environment. These types of plastics degrade when they’re exposed to oxygen or light however it is not a microbial degradation and this does not happen in a commercial compost bin or unit.
Bioplastics are seeing a lot of popularity in Europe. They have been reported as accounting for up to 60% of the market for biodegradable materials market. The most common end use market is for packaging which is a continually growing market segment and upon which many entrepreneurs have capitalized.
Synthetic fibers and green waste are two other forms of popular biodegradable waste. There s a large variety of synthetic fibers that are used in place of those natural fibers. These fibers, polypropylene and polyethylene, may be incorporated into paper as a way of imparting desirable physical properties. These elements usually come from living organisms such as animals and plants.
Green waste is waste which can biodegrade, it’s usually made up of grass cuttings, old flowers, bushes or tree trimmings as well. Generally any type of cuttings from either a park or a garden. Green waste is often collected in municipal curbside collection schemes Biodegradable waste is good.
Nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus will be produced naturally by the feeding of microorganisms, so few if any soil amendments will need to be added. When we begin composting humus is our goal. The organic matter provided in compost provides food for microorganisms, which keeps the soil in a healthy, balanced condition Humus is our goal when we start composting.
When plant matter dies, what ever is left is consumed by microorganisms from the soil and eventually it is turned into humus. Natural decomposition occurs anywhere there are plants. Some organic materials are broken down more easily than others Decomposition occurs naturally.
If the area in a compost heap turns toxic to a particular type of decomposer, it will die, or become dormant, sometimes they shift to other parts of the compost heap. Decomposition occurs anywhere plants grow. The elements vital to a healthy compost heap need oxygen and water in order to decompose the material correctly. Plants are subject to natural decomposition. The changing conditions inside the compost bin create a consistently evolving environment inside the pile. Decomposition occurs naturally anywhere plants grow.
The greatest compost mix is produced by balancing green and brown materials. The greatest compost mix is produced from a balance of green materials like fruit and brown materials like paper. The best type of compost is made up of three parts fibrous loam, one part peat, one part leaf mold and one part coarse sand or grit. Compost that has great success rates is generally at the BOTTOM of the pile.
The best compost is achieved using the anaerobic preparation instead of the aerobic preparation. The best type of compost is produced when the correct amount of air is present. The greatest compost mix is made In Tennessee. Compost that has great success rates is probably that which you make yourself. The local garden center produces compost simply by adding items to a compost heap when you feel like it. I produce compost in 21 days using the landfill method.
Anyway you do it, there is a complex process in play when biodegradation takes place.

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Composting education drive is another way to ensure that you are able to pass on the legacy to younger generations. But packaging the teaching method is another aspect that the composting enthusiast must not overlook. There are various ways of teaching composting to adults, but children have different needs and may require more than the expertise of monitoring your heap’s temperature. Here are different techniques for teaching composting methods to children. It can really be fun and rewarding to pass on the baton to younger kids once you have gotten the hang of composting, and it will really help bring about awareness to their parents and other members of the community. Use Visuals Nothing beats the boring feeling a kid gets from pure text. Unless the kid is inclined to enjoy pure words, visuals are your best bet into inculcating a love for composting. Make use of pictures, Powerpoint presentations and other technological devices you can use. If you are on an impromptu teaching class, use your words to help the kids visualize the scenario of composting. In any case, encourage the children to imagine the entire process. Do a complete demo The demonstration will be able to teach volumes to the children, way more than any discussion can. With a demonstration, you not only show them how it’s done, you also show them that you are well capable of doing what you are teaching them. Seeing the actions in real time will also eliminate the need for them to ask questions should their turn for trying it comes since they will be able to present their questions as you do your demo. Track for feedback Kids can get opinionated about things that they like. Strike their fancy even further by getting feedbacks from them from time to time. Also, ask them and encourage them to ask their questions to you. Removing their inhibitions will help you teach them more concepts than when you are dealing with an uptight bunch, Entertain all questions and give ample time to answering each question. Kids can get easily discouraged. So make sure that you are able to reserve judgment and entertain questions, no matter how “stupid” or minor they may seem to you. Remember, you are dealing with children here. If at all possible, have an assistant teacher who is also a kid to help you gain a better perspective of teaching composting to children. Discuss benefits at the outset so they will know what composting is really for. If the children are oriented from the outset that what they are doing has great significance, they are more likely to cooperate and do the tasks cheerfully. Ensure that you are fully able to help them understand how composting helps the environment and how it will make a positive difference to a majority of people. Let them do it, and refuse to interfere if possible. The main purpose for educating them on composting is to have them equipped with the skills they need to be able to do composting themselves. So, seeing them do the composting, even on a small pit for beginners, may help you see where potential problems may lie. You can also easily praise them and correct them as necessary. In any case, encourage them for every form of progress made, no matter how small it is, so as to help build their confidence.

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Making compost from garden and household waste is one of the best things any gardener can do. Its easy and costs very little in time or effort.
Making compost will help you reduce pollution and cut down that landfill! Your plants will grow healthier and look happier for it and it will save you money on fertilisers too. Our local council in Manchester has now given us brown bins for us to add leaves, grass and other compost matter into, which is then emptied every two weeks once it has reduced to less than half its size.
What is compost?
Garden guides often describe composting as natures way of recycling.
Composting is indeed a natural way of recycling, harnessing natural processes rather than machinery and man-made chemicals, but it takes people to do it.
Soil maintenance is at the heart of organic growing: dont feed the plants, feed the soil — the plants will look after themselves. The extremely complex subject of soil maintenance can happily be summed up in one word: composting.
A smelly hole at the far end of the garden filled with putrefying kitchen wastes and flies buzzing round. Thats what compost isnt. No stinks, no flies, though kitchen waste is welcome.
Compost is not just decayed organic matter. Composting is applied microbiology at its most complex, involving the interactions of thousands upon thousands of different species of micro organisms in a highly complex ecosystem.
What can I compost?
If it can rot it will compost, but some items are best avoided. Some things, like grass mowings and soft young weeds, rot quickly. They work as activators or hotter rotters, getting the composting started, but on their own will decay to a smelly mess. Recycle your plant-based, kitchen and garden waste by making it into compost.
Older and tougher plant material is slower to rot but gives body to the finished compost – and usually makes up the bulk of a compost heap. Woody items decay very slowly; they are best chopped or shredded first, where appropriate.
A container or brown bin is not an absolute necessity as you can make perfectly good compost in a free standing heap as long as it is large enough. You will see later why this may be a drawback. Assuming then that we need to make a container we are faced with many choices.
Why not make or buy a compost bin? Theyre usually cheap to buy, and are available in wood or recycled plastic (that might otherwise be in your local landfill site). If youre keen you could combine it with a wormery or use a shredder which increases the amount of compostable waste. Do not compost foods such as dairy produce, meat, bread etc as these attract flies and vermin.
How do I know when its done?
That depends. What was a pile of plant material will gradually, from the bottom up, turn into a pile of dark stuff that looks like brown dirt. Eventually, none of the items you put in there will be recognizable. If youre using it out in the garden, a few small recognizable bits wont hurt – theyll finish composting in the garden. If youre using it for houseplants or to start seeds, its better to wait until its well finished so you dont have microbes attacking the fine rootlets of new plants.
Dig it in to have a healthy, fertile garden and your fruit and vegetables can be organic. Dont assume the waste is harmless and bin it. Putting it in landfill costs money and it will produce methane (a global warming gas); also it may pollute the groundwater.
Compost waste often comprises about 20-30% of your total household waste and the impact on recycling is significant.

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Compost is a mixture of decaying organic matter used to improve soil structure, and provide nutrients.

Examples of compost are a mixture of leaves, twigs, branches, grass clippings, yard waste and manure. Anything that was once alive will naturally crumble and will become easy to use for composting.

Composting is a great way to trim down wastes, get wet garbage out of the can and make use out of it, have a free product for your garden and nurture the earth.

A compost pile consists of a large number of microorganisms. These microorganisms process the mixtures and produce compost. To make sure your compost is full of nutrients, there should be two vital parts involved. Nitrogen-rich materials and carbon-rich materials help you produce composts instantly.

There are a variety of materials that could be used for your compost mixture. Coffee filters, coffee grounds and teabags will not be wasted and thrown into the garbage. Leaves, plant branches, grass trimmings, vegetable and fruit scraps would be placed to use in the mixture of your compost.

Dead animals, pet manure and diseased plants are materials that cannot be placed into your mixture because it may cause infection. Bread grains, meat and fish parts, dairy and oily products would not decompose by itself in any way you try.

Composts could be used for maintenance of plants, gardens and lawns, but it is not an alternate for fertilizers. Compost maintains nutrients in the ground which plants make use of; it loosens clay soils and preserves water in sandy soils. There are several uses for compost. These are the following:

1. Composts could be used for soil improvement. Because composts contain nutrients, it serves as sustenance for the plants. By mixing compost into your garden once a year, it would enhance the growth of your plants.

2. Composts could be used as a potting mixture. By transferring the plants into a container, these may serve as supplement to the soil.

3. Composts could be used as mulch. Mulch mixed with compost could help with water maintenance in the soil and could lead to prevention of slugs and snails. Mulch also preserve soil heat and keeps it from escaping, which would eventually look after root systems.

4. Composts could be used as decoration. In gardening and anything relating to soil, these mixtures could serve as a top dressing over your lawn.

There are a number of easy ways to produce composts.

First is the open air composting. To keep the mixture of piles organized and out of reach from animals and children, place the compost mixture in bins and water it occasionally to produce moisture.

The mixture would decompose by itself and the only thing you would do is harvest it once or twice a year, depending on the decomposing process.

For an area where decomposing odor is restricted, closed air composting is right for you. Closed bins which are made of wood, metal or old fences could be used.

Simply place the mixture inside the bin and check to see if the water and mixture is equally distributed. Add more water if the mixture dries out. Add dry mixture if the compost becomes damp. Harvesting of compost may be once or twice a year.

The most effortless method in recycling organic mixtures at home is grass cycling. By leaving all the leaves and cut grass on the lawn, it would decompose by itself in time.

Start to make use of garbage. Make your own home-made composts while preserving the earth.

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Indicate what it does and how it is effective and why one would want to improve soil in the first place.

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Have you ever had really great soil for gardening around your house? Few do. In my case, the clay-like soil prevented good water drainage and was difficult for cultivating new plants. At other times the sand content was too high, providing the opposite problem – water retention. Additionally, a proper soil nutrient for great plants was missing. One could replace all the soil – a very expensive time consuming process, build raised beds or work to improve existing conditions. To do this, composting is the answer.

Composting is the decomposition of plant remains and other once-living materials to make an earthy, dark, crumbly substance that is excellent for adding to houseplants or enriching garden soil. It is a great way to help the environment. Composting is nature’s process of recycling decomposed organic materials into a rich soil known as compost.

Composting is a lot like cooking, and the easiest compost recipe calls for blending parts of green or wet material, high in nitrogen and brown or dry material, high in carbon. Materials – Materials that are excellent for composting are kitchen waste, like coffee grounds, wastes, things you might throw down the garbage disposal. Meat, bones, eggs, cheese, fats and oils are not recommended for backyard composting because they attract animals. Composting materials are divided into two types, green and brown. Green materials include green leafy plant residues like weeds, grass clippings, vegetable tops and flower clippings. Brown materials include fall leaves, straw, sawdust, wood chips and shredded newspapers. To speed up decomposition, use two-parts green material to one-part brown material. For best results, mix materials high in nitrogen such as clover, fresh grass clippings, and livestock manure with those high in carbon such as dried leaves. Compost Bin – First, choose a location for your compost bin. Place the bin at least 20 feet away from the nearest house. Avoid placing the bin against a tree or wooden building; the compost could cause the wood to decay. Bins can be built from scrap lumber, old pallets, snow fence, chicken wire, or concrete blocks. When building a composting bin, such as with chicken wire, scrap wood, or cinder blocks, be sure to leave enough space for air to reach the pile. Usually when building a composting bin, one side is left open or can be opened to facilitate turning the materials. Once your bin is in place, you can begin immediately to fill it with yard wastes and kitchen scraps. While a bin will help contain the pile, it is not absolutely necessary – some prefer to compost in a large open area.Process – Basically, backyard composting is an acceleration of the same process nature uses. If left alone, these same materials will eventually break down, decompose and produce soil rich materials. Eventually, the rotting leaves are returned to the soil, where living roots can finish the recycling process by reclaiming the nutrients from the decomposed leaves. Home composting provides ideal conditions to greatly reduce the time it takes

Cooking refers to the process where the compost heats up and breaks down, which is necessary before you can use it as soil additive in the garden and on your house plants. The cooking process takes about 4-8 weeks once you stop adding to the bin. Don’t be surprised by the heat of the pile or if you see worms, both of which are part of the decomposition process. If you want to accelerate the process, turn it every four days, but more frequently than that is not recommended.Carbon – Carbon and Nitrogen are the essential elements of a compost pile. Carbon rich materials are referred to as “browns”. Carbon-rich, relatively low-nutrient material are slow to decay. The rate at which breakdown occurs depends on several factors – oxygenation, temperature, water content, surface area size, and the carbon to nitrogen ratio Soak high carbon materials with water before composting. Alternate six to eight inch layers of high carbon materials such as leaves and other dry plant debris, with layers of high nitrogen material such as grass clippings, kitchen waste or manure.Nitrogen – Nitrogen is the most important food nutrient, because a nitrogen shortage drastically slows the composting process. Brown materials composted alone require supplemental nitrogen to feed the decomposing bacteria. Greens are quick to rot and they provide important nitrogen and moisture. Add one-quarter to one-half cup nitrogen fertilizer per bushel of brown material. If you are low on high-nitrogen material, you can add a small amount of commercial fertilizer containing nitrogen. In other words, the ingredients placed in the pile should contain 25 to 30 times as much carbon as nitrogen. Some ingredients with higher nitrogen content are green plant material such as crop residues, hay, grass clippings, animal manures.Manure – Manure may be used to increase your compost piles nitrogen supply. Animal manure should only be collected from vegetarian animals, such as horses, cows, sheep, poultry, etc. Sheep and cattle manure don’t drive the compost heap to as high a temperature as poultry or horse manure, so the heap takes longer to produce the finished product. Moisture – Moisture and oxygen are important factors in the composting process as both influence temperature. An active compost pile will be warm – frequently between 75 – 85 degrees. Every time you add fresh grass or kitchen waste you add some moisture retention to your compost pile. Moisture is provided by rain, but you may need to water or cover the pile to keep it damp. To test for adequate moisture, reach into your compost pile and grab a handful of material and squeeze it; if a few drops of water come out, it’s probably got enough moisture, if it doesn’t, add water. Eliminate Odor – The most common problem is unpleasant, strong odors. To prevent this ensure a good flow of oxygen in the compost, don’t overload the pile with food waste so that the food sits around too long, and if the bin contents become too wet add in more dry materials.

Home composting is both fun and easy to do, and does not require large investments of time, money and effort to be successful. Composting is an inexpensive, natural process that transforms your kitchen and garden waste into valuable food for your garden. Composting is a way to reduce the volume of organic wastes and return them to the soil to benefit growing plants. Your garden will love you for it.

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Composting is a natural and simple process and yet it has been complicated by machines, fallacies, misinformation, myths, and misunderstandings that came out due to erroneous publications and aggressive commercial marketing approaches. Some of these misinformed facts have been passed around so many times that the general perception has become truth. An example would be the seemingly accepted fact that all compost smells. But before we go into that, let’s discuss some other composting myths first.

Myth: Composting requires a lot of work

Truth: Composting is a natural process which involves basically the elements of nature doing the job for you. All you need is to gather all the materials, lay it on, and let nature do her job. Composting is a low maintenance activity as well. You only need to turn the compost file every once in a while to keep the air flowing to quicken the decomposition process and that’s it. You practically sit and wait for the the compost to finish.

Myth: Composting is limited to farms and wide open spaces

Truth: On the contrary, people living in urban areas who have no luxury for space can create their own composting bin from a trash can. How much space would that take up? Also, there is another technique which you can use, the so-called vermicomposting which involves the use of red worms in a contained bin where you feed them table scraps.

Myth: Composting needs precise measurements

Truth: Even though composting ideally would be best achieved with the right combination of greens and browns elements, having the exact measurements is not that necessary. Estimates work just fine. And those neatly piled up layers of composting piles you see in commercials, books, pamphlets and brochures of composting products, those are all for show. You don’t need to copy those, composting works the same way as you pile them up haphazardly.

Myth: You need specially formulated chemicals as starters or activators

Truth: Well, despite the claims of commercially available products that applying them to the compost pile will speed up the process of decomposition, buying them is not really necessary. It is often the practice to just throw in some finished compost into the newly formed compost pile and that itself will serve as the activator to get things started. There’s no need to buy those expensive stuff.

Myth: Adding yeast will boost the compost’s performance Truth: This is not true at all. What you’re doing is just wasting your money by adding yeast to the compost pile. Yeast does not do anything to the compost pile and neither does it affect the performance quality of the compost.

Myth: Animals are attracted to composting piles

Truth: Yes, this to some degree is true. Composting piles do attract the occasional cat, dog or raccoon. Small critters will likely go for open compost piles and for piles that have kitchen scraps like meat, fat, dairy products, bones and pet manure to the pile.

Myth: Compost smells

Truth: Compost should not smell. If you find bad smelling compost, then the maker did a poor job picking the materials for the compost pile. Other composting myths exist and it would be best to do your research first before accepting them as truth.

http://organic-composting.blogspot.com

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