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Re: Compost tumbler - good investment?

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

Elizabeth,
I'm going to differ from the other responses. My husband built one and we used it
for about 2 weeks. We kept it for another 5 years and then put it out for the
trash man.

The problems I see with it are that it really doesn't hold enough materials. When
full it was difficult to turn the barrel because it was so heavy. As someone else
mentioned, you have to have your browns and greens at the same time or it's not
going to make compost in 14 days or even much longer than that.

I think it is just one of many expensive gimmicks out on the market now that
compost has gotten so popular. People are afraid their pile will smell or won't
look tidy so they are looking for neat bins and things to hide it in. Most of them
are just too small.

I just finished Master Composter classes and the instructor pretty much said that
most of the bins were a waste of money. He particularly mentioned the barrel. We
made some dividers out of wooden pallets (free) to separate our compost piles and
tidy up the area. I really like them, but then we have pretty large compost piles.

Oh, by the way, "they" say your pile needs to be about 3 x 3 x 3 feet to decompose
in a reasonable amount of time.

Ruth






Elizabeth Snively wrote:

> Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>
> Hi all,
>
> I am currently using a circle of wire fencing as a compost container. It takes
> a long time for me to fill, and turning it is time consuming.
>
> Does anyone have experience with the barrel-shaped compost tumblers that are
> advertised in gardening magazines and on HGTV? They promise to speed up the
> composting by making it easy to turn the stuff.
>
> Thanks,
> Elizabeth
> Cary, NC, USA, Zone 7b
>
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