Composting Bin
I’m debating getting a Green Cone or Garden Gourmet? Which one works better? http://www.composters.com/main.php?gclid=CMnzy4iam44CFSBMGgodtAu0ZA
I’m debating getting a Green Cone or Garden Gourmet? Which one works better?
http://www.composters.com/main.php?gclid=CMnzy4iam44CFSBMGgodtAu0ZA
My friend who is a master (non-pro) gardener swears by the composter that’s rounded or like a barrel and can be turned and tumbled on its stand.
When I was a kid my father built a compost in our back yard and it was my job to turn it with a pitchfork. It consisted of three bins made of old wooden fence slats with spaces between them with the bottom slats raised above the ground. They were open on the top. After the first bin composted some, I would move it to the second bin and then the first bin could be started anew with old leaves and kitchen stuff. When the second bin composted further, I would move it to the third. When that stuff got really good and I would turn it, loads of earthworms would be visible and steam would rise off the top and it smelled wonderful. That`s the stuff my parents put on the vegetable garden which produced a lot of vegetables and the rubarb my mother made pies with.
Personally, I wouldn’t use either. I’d look for one that could be easily turned. No matter what the ad says, if you want the stuff to break down quickly, you need to stir it regularly, and these look like they’d make that difficult. I think mine is called the urban compost tumbler; it’s easy to turn and has only one hole, covered by wire mesh, to deter pests. As long as you crank it regularly, you get enough oxygen and it breaks down faster than the other methods.
Even though we don’t cook a lot, my husband and I generate enough compost that we need two bins, esp. when things slow down in winter.
For the second, I use a simple sturdy, lidded trash can, with a few small holes at the bottom. It’s a bit more work to stir than than tumbler (I use a big stick), but if you do it regularly the stuff breaks down just as fast. In summer time, it takes about a month to break down, and then I let it sit for at least another month before using it on my plants.
I have a Garden Gourmet or rebrand of same. One negative is you have to build an aeration platform of sticks at bottom- it would have been nice if it came with a plastic platform for this.
The green cone doesn’t seem to have any aeration system- burrying the composter like they suggest would make it worse in most cases. And $170 for a glorified trash barrel is pretty steep.
All you really need:
-a container
-way to let air in and keep rain out
-access to allow mixing and extraction
-decent mix of material going in (food waste/yard waste/soil)