Best Type of Compost System – Tumblers?

[englishladyMember]

 

I am going to have to garden on a shoestring, so I may not have a choice, but I wonder what system for composting people consider ‘the best’ and whether these various types of plastic compost rotators are worth it?

I have seen a snazzy 3′ x 3′ x 3′ box with slatted sides but that is well out of my price range.  I will look on the brilliant FREECYCLE site for my area and see if I can find something inexpensive (like FREE),

But given a choice, what would be the perfect system?   Also I am confused about weeds.  Some folk say dont put them in the compost as the seeds will cause havoc, and at least one I have read says it is ok to do so as the composting destroys the seeds.

Confused?  Yes I am !

Best wishes

 

Julie

PS I have already read the threads on here about composting, but none the wiser.

[RhysParticipant]

Julie

I”ve not used ‘tumblers’ as such, but I did experiment this winter with a rigorous regular turning of half ripe compost for 6 months which has now matured beautifully – still a few worms in it but it is truly crumbly and soft. I used the high tech implement known as a garden hoe, going down as far as possible, lifting sideways and then spreading the high side down into the cleared side to mix. As the weeks past I could get deeper and deeper and of course this helped with the aeration. I was doing this in a PVC 0.2 cubic metre compost bin which was about 2/3 full at the start and has now reduced down to about half full.

On the basis of this, I can imagine that tumblers will work but if you are time rich but cash poor, maybe using hoe and fork may be a low cost solution?

[englishladyMember]

Thanks for that — certainly confirms that turning the compost is highly beneficial, yours sounds great.  The aeration must be hugely improved. I dont have garden tools yet, hoping to pick some up cheaply at a car boot or somewhere like that. Thanks for your reply.

Best wishes

Julie

[Phil RParticipant]

5 pallets arranged as two open fronted bays make a great system for turning your compost.

[tidy beardParticipant]

When my neighbour was having a fence replaced I asked the guys if I could take the old timber. I made a row of three bins, two about 1m cubed and the centre one a little smaller.

I have a row of plastic ‘darlek’ type bins that I use to collect all my compostable material. I fill the first one then move the contents to the second once full. It moves along the row like this then into the the first large wooden bin. Once this is full I start on the second large bin. When the level in the first large bin has dropped a little I move it to the smaller one and from there onto my beds by which time it has been turned at least six times.

It sounds a little tedious explained like this, but doesn’t take very long and I find I have a usable compost much quicker than just leaving it in one container. It’s easy to add water or newspaper as necessary on turning as well.

[Author]

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