Compost bin tumblers come in all shapes and sizes, even for small apartment patios. These tumblers are great for 1 person or for a large family. There are just a few basics that you need to know when wanting to start composting your table scraps.

First you need to balance your compost. You want to have a balance of leaves and such, as well as soil, and your left over vegetables/fruit peelings, cores, seeds, etc. Even used coffee and eggshells can be beneficial in composting.

Some other great tips include rotating the compost frequently so that it gets the oxygen rotating with the waste material and the materials get decomposed quicker and better.  Also, make sure that the food you place in the composter does not have mold on it, such as old moldy bread.  Especially in hot weather, the mold can survive and spread to the good plants once the compost is put in the garden.  This could contaminate your good crops.

A great rule of thumb is to use 2 parts of brown matter to your compost and one part of green matter.  The brown matter is leaves, hay, twigs, and even sawdust.  The green material is grass and food scraps.  The brown material will add carbon, whereas the green matter adds nitrogen to the compost.

Earthworms will get your soil and compost moving quicker and becoming richer.  Insects and bugs speed up the composting process to produce rich, dark compost.  Make sure you do not use pesticides in your compost, though, because it will kill the bugs and will ruin the natural compost that you are trying to create.  Let nature take its course, by letting the insects do their job.

Try to balance the compost with a good amount of moisture.  If the compost gets to dry, it will not break down very quick.  However, if too moist, the compost will rot and smell disgusting.  Keeping your eye on the compost for the first few months while you are learning how to do this, will be quite beneficial and worth your effort.

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For many gardeners, the garden actually begins in January when the first seed catalog arrives in the mailbox. While the cold wind howls outside, we retire to a cozy chair and leaf through the catalog, carefully notating which varieties of lettuce and tomatoes to try and wishing we had the space to plant each and every flower so artfully displayed on its pages.

But have you ever wondered where your great-grandparents acquired the seeds for their gardens, before there were seed catalogs and fancy garden centers?

They saved seeds for the next year from their own gardens!

Order your Heirloom Seeds today, click here!

Saving seeds from your own flowers or vegetables is a wonderful way to fully experience the cycle of plant growth. It’s also much less expensive than buying seeds each spring, and seeds saved from your plants will be well suited to the peculiarities of your own garden’s growing conditions. Not only that, it’s also quite a simple process.

Save seeds only from vigorous, healthy plants. Some plant diseases may be harbored in the seed where it will then be passed on to the next generation of plants. So don’t save seeds from a plant that is obviously diseased or has struggled all season. Collect seeds from the plants that have the characteristics you desire, such as height, hardiness, early or late ripening, flavor or vigor.

It is not recommended to save seeds from hybrid plants. Hybrids are the result of crossing two genetically different parent plants, both of which have been severely inbred to concentrate the desirable characteristics. The first generation, referred to as an F1 hybrid, is superior to the parents. But succeeding generations of plants grown from seed saved from an F1 plant tend to randomly revert to the characteristics of the original inbred ancestor plants.

Plants that are not hybrids are referred to as open pollinated. Many seed catalogs will identify which of their seeds are hybrids or open pollinated. If you intend to save your own seed, always start with open pollinated seeds. Some of these may also be identified as heirloom seeds. These heirloom varieties have been passed down for generations, often saved within one family for many years before becoming available to the general public.

Cross pollination is another concern for the seed-saving gardener. Cross pollination often results in seeds which have a different genetic makeup than that of the parent plant. Pumpkins, squash and small gourds may cross pollinate with each other, resulting in seeds that will grow to produce rather picturesque fruit. Sweet corn will cross pollinate with field corn or popcorn, and your 6-inch marigolds will cross with your neighbor’s 18-inch pompon marigolds. However, crossing will only occur within a species. Cucumbers won’t cross with squash, and cosmos won’t cross with pansies.

To avoid cross pollination, keep two varieties of the same species separated by as much space as possible. Some species, such as corn, are wind-pollinated and the pollen can travel great distances. These plants must be pollinated by hand and kept isolated from other varieties of their species. This can be done with corn, for example, by tying a small paper bag over selected ears before the silk emerges, then once the silk has appeared it is hand pollinated with pollen from the same plant or its healthy neighbors.

Seeds should be collected on a dry, sunny day. Frost doesn’t hurt most seed as long as the seed remains dry. Vegetables such as cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes should be allowed to become slightly overripe before their seeds are collected. Flower seeds and vegetable seed such as lettuce should be collected after the seedheads have become dry, but don’t wait too long, as many will shatter, meaning they’ll be dropped from the seedpod or seedhead if they remain on the plant too long.

Cucumber, squash and tomato seeds need an additional step before they are ready for storage. First the seeds must be separated from the pulp, then dried. Scoop the seeds from these vegetables, pulp and all. Place the whole mess in a container of water and give it a good stir, then let it settle a bit. The pulp will rise to the top while the seeds will sink to the bottom. Carefully pour off the pulp, and repeat the process until most of the pulp has been poured off. Then strain out the seeds and set them on newspapers to dry.

Seeds should go into storage as dry as possible. Give all seed a post-harvest drying period of at least a week, just to be sure they’re dry. Spread them out on a paper plate or newspapers in a warm area out of the sun while they dry.

It’s very important to keep the seed dry during storage. Store your dry seeds in tightly sealed jars, metal film containers, or old vitamin bottles. To save space, smaller quantities of several varieties of seeds can be stored in separate envelopes inside a jar. A cool, but never freezing, garage, closed-off spare room or cool basement can all be good places for storing seeds. Or simply keep your sealed jars of seeds in the refrigerator. Temperatures between 32 and 41 degrees Fahrenheit are ideal.

Be sure to label your jars and envelopes so when spring comes around again you’ll know which flower seeds and vegetable seeds you’re planting, and include the date the seeds were collected. Some seeds will remain viable for several years, but most will grow best if planted right away the following spring.

Try saving some vegetable or flower seeds from your garden this year and grow them next season. This endless cycle can allow you to realize the endless joy of gardening through all the seasons and all the stages of a plant’s life.

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The importance of planting heirloom seeds is to stop plants from going extinct. There are many plants that have been a part of our heritage and cultures that are a very important part of many lives. Heirloom gardening is the only way to keep these plants alive.

There are basically three different types of seeds. F1, bio-engineered and heirloom. F1 are first generation hybrid seeds that have been hand pollinated, often sterile and hold a patten by mainly large national seed companies. Bio-engineered seeds are your hybrid seeds that are most common when you buy seeds at most garden centers, department stores and wholesale suppliers.

The genetics of these seeds have been altered for specific needs, like the most common being commercial purposes. The third kind of seed is the heirloom. These are seeds that have a history behind them. They are a seed that has been past down through generations. They are a true plant, open pollinated and reproduce directly from a parent plant, creating the same year after year as its parent.

Order your Heirloom Seeds today, click here!

Organic heirloom gardening is becoming more popular with the home gardener. It is a method of gardening that is healthy and chemical free, being both safer for you and the environment. Keeping this method of gardening alive is very important. Without heirloom plants being grow, more and more varieties of flowers, fruits, herbs and vegetables will be going extinct.

Your help is needed as a gardener to keep the past alive and plant with heirloom seeds.

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Do you want to start a compost pile but feel it’s too much work? Or do you already have one and think that it is taking too long to produce a rich and healthy compost soil? Here are some tips that will help you to create richer compost faster!

1. Be sure to rotate the compost pile in order to get oxygen in the mix, which speeds up the composting process. Use a composting bin or tumbler to make rotating simpler. With a traditional compost pile, you have to rotate the pile manually with a pitchfork. With a bin or tumbler, that manual work is almost eliminated. For example, with the tumbler, you only have to turn the handle in order to rotate the materials in the tumbler.

2. Don’t add food with mold on it to your compost pile. The mold may not be killed off during the composting process and could be spread to plants in your garden once it is added to the soil.

3. If you have the time, break down the items to be composted into smaller pieces before you add them to the compost pile. The smaller the pieces are, the quicker they will break down.

4. Add a variety of materials to your compost pile. Materials can be classified as either “brown” or “green” and there should be about 2 parts brown material to 1 part green material. Brown materials add carbon to the soil and include hay, sawdust and dried leaves. Green materials add nitrogen to the soil and include grass and food scraps. If you add too much of one item, it will slow down the composting process.

5. Don’t let your compost pile get too dry or too wet. Moisture is an important part of the composting process. Too dry and the materials won’t break down properly. Too wet and the pile will start to rot and develop a very unpleasant, stinky smell.

6. Insects and bugs are nature’s way of speeding up the compost process. Flying insects and earthworms are the most commonly seen insects near a compost pile. Just let them do their job and make sure not to use any pesticides. In fact, the more earthworms there are in the soil, the healthier the soil is.

7. Avoid adding certain materials to your compost pile. Perennial weeds, such as dandelions or thistle, will just keep growing. Poison ivy can cause an itchy rash when you are working with the compost. Plus, some plants are toxic to other plants, such as sunflower seed hulls, heads and stalks. Finally, avoid adding cat litter and other pet waste, as it can be harmful to humans.

8. The warmer the compost pile, the faster it will decompose. Place your compost pile in an area that receives a lot of sunshine. The heat from the sun will heat up the pile fast! Just make sure to add water if you find that the pile is too dry.

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The first point is to chose a garden compost bin which is the right size for you.

If you produce huge amounts of organic waste you need big garden compost bins. If you only produce small amounts of waste, get a small one. If you choose a size you cannot fill in a short space of time (within six months) you will find the hoped for hummus never actually comes to much. As it breaks down at the bottom of the bin, and you keep adding to the top, the volume of matter reduces. You end up in a cycle of never filling the bin and so never actually reaping the reward of lovely free compost.

If you produce large amounts of organic matter to add to your bins you can get away with very open compost piles. You can use open homemade bins made from old pallets or other wood scraps. But, if you only produce small volumes of garden waste, such an exposed pile would never heat up enough to break down thoroughly.

In basic terms, the more garden waste you have for recycling into hummus, the more basic, open, exposed and big, your bins can be. If you are adding lots of stuff regularly, the temperature will stay high, and the bulk will build quickly enough to cope with sun, rain and wind. So anyone with huge amounts of matter for garden composting would do well with an open heap even. If you think about it, those huge Kitchen Gardens and Farmyards where garden composting began, used open heaps. But, open heaps are messy and may attract vermin or pets where they are not wanted. If this is the case for you, think about a quick composting system.

Any large plastic compost bin will make compost quickly, as it keeps everything so warm and moist. You will need several though, as the compost is still likely to take three months or more to be produced. Alternatively you could look at some of the quicker working systems such as the rotating compost bins which are expected to produce good quality hummus within weeks rather than months.

Small volumes of garden waste need a little more protection. A small (200 litre) cheap plastic compost bin is the most practical for the small garden. It won’t take an age to fill, and it will keep the contents warm and moist enough to break down thoroughly.

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Many compost containers can be store bought, and these typically come in wood or plastic. The store bought wood types must be assembled, and have slatted sides that will allow adequate air circulation. Front panels may be lifted out for easy access to the compost.

Plastic compost bins are suitable for small gardens. Air is allowed to pass through the bottom though a lid keeps contents dry and heat inside.

Many gardeners prefer to build their own compost bins, and the designs and sizes are as varied as the minds that create them. Such structures can be made of posts and chicken wire and cardboard, or fashioned out of a large plastic barrel. Others get a little fancier and build brick compost containers.

The amount of compost you can make on a yearly basis will depend on the types of materials you have, and on the weather. Getting good compost takes some planning and proper layering technique. Grass cutting should be mixed with either weeds or shredded newspaper or other layer divider, like straw, to prevent them from turning into a hard lump of slimy mess that is worthless. Some people use straw to separate layers of their compost heaps, but it must be thoroughly soaked with water before adding to the heap.

Ideally, your compost heap should be layered in a certain order. Many start the heap off with a layer of horse manure or straw, followed by grass cuttings, then another layer of manure. Every few layers, add some sort of a compost activator or nitrogen fertilizer onto the heap. Horse manure acts like a nitrogen fertilizer, so if you have access to that, by all means, use it. Continue loading your compost heap, little by little until it is full. Then cover it with a lid or something that will keep the contents dry.

In as little as a week, your heap will have compacted and seemed to shrink, which will allow you to add more items as time passes. Generally speaking you should be able to get two good batches of compost out of your heap in a year, one in early summer, another in the late fall, even more if it’s been a warm year.

Compost containers vary by type. Some are built simply with items on hand, while others can be quite fancy and complicated. There are two important thing to remember when considering any type of container or structure for your compost heap, 1) compost must be kept moist up to the very edges. 2) it must be easy for you to get the compost out easily when it’s time to dig it into your garden. Compost containers can be purchased or hand built.

Copyright © Larry Gildea, All Rights Reserved.

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But many gardeners, especially “indoor” gardeners, don’t have a place to build and maintain a compost pile of any sort. And the idea of building a traditional compost pile indoors is not really feasible. But it turns out there are some options for making compost indoors. Let’s take a look at a couple.

Vermiculture (or How About Them Worms?)

At first blush, the idea of a worm bin or worm farm sounds like the last thing that you would want to have in your home, especially your kitchen. But it turns out that worm composting (the technical term is vermiculture) is one of the cleaner ways to make compost. The worms are contained in a plastic bind, and you can successfully make the compost without ever even seeing or touching the worms.

The bin is built with multiple layers, and you add the worms, and then add the kitchen waste to be composted. One of the advantages of worm composting is that you can add materials that would never do well in a traditional compost bin, like citrus peelings and the like. You let the worms do their magic, and add another layer or bin and the worms move on to the fresh kitchen waste.

Worm castings are among the best forms of compost, and do wonders for the composition of the soil. Take a look a the pictures of a worm bin and you may find that it’s better than you think.

Bokashi Composting

One example of a bokashi composter is the Happy Farmer composter. This is an indoor composting technique that has been used for years by the Japanese and Koreans.

Bokashi is a mixture of bran and sawdust which is mixed with microorganisms. The kitchen wastes are put in the composter, and a mixed with the bokashi. After a couple of weeks the mixture can be buried outside, where it will finish off into compost in just a few more weeks. The process is more similar to fermentation than it is a traditional composter, in that it’s an anaerobic process (not requiring oxygen) and the finished product has more liquid. In fact many bokashi composters have a spigot that allows you to drain the liquid off separately, and you can use it to fertilize your plants.

Advantages of indoor composters

Both of these approaches have some common advantages:

1) You don’t need a lot of waste to start the bin. With a traditional compost pile, you need enough mass to get the pile to heat up. With these indoor composters, the active agents can get to work right away, you don’t need to wait for a big pile of waste to get going.

2) You can compost many things that won’t work in a traditional compost pile. Don’t think of meat or dairy products in a compost pile, but small amounts of these in these kitchen composters can do OK.

3) Compost in a hurry – These active composters can give you compost in four to eight weeks, much faster than a traditional compost pile.

So, if you want to adopt more of a green lifestyle by composting your wastes, but thought that living in an apartment or condo without a yard kept you from doing so, there are options.

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Why do we do this? The mixing ensures that all the contents become finely chopped making them easier to break down. If we add to this the fact that mixing encourages the high temperatures needed to make compost. There will be an even temperature throughout which means all the contents will compost at a much higher rate than a conventional heap.

This mixing also means that the contents are thoroughly aerated which again makes the decomposition that much quicker. The claims of quality mix in three weeks really can be achieved if used correctly. Most who have had good success have also added a compost activator to really get the mix going and this seems like the best way to ensure a quick supply from the rotating compost bin. The compost bin tumbler seems like a fantastic invention and for those who want some good quality mix in a hurry it is perfect. It is also especially good for those with limited space or who find it difficult dealing with a large open heap on their land. Try one for yourself and see just how effective they can be. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

The compost bin tumbler may be ideal. The rotating compost bin makes compost in a few weeks.

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An attempt to build a rotating compost bin

I’m fascinated by compost. Watching kitchen scraps turn into dirt in just a few weeks time is exciting and anything I can do to improve my soil is worth the.

Compost Bins, 1, 2, 3

The compost bins are finally up. It took far longer than we expected. Our biggest obstacle was definitely the weather.

Functioning of Rotating Compost Bin

If the compost has to be made quicker, it has to be rotated constantly and rotating compost bins are very helpful to achieve that. Most of the action takes place in the centre of the compost bin and while rotating,

Urban Compost Bin Tumblers

Every time you rotate it you are spreading the heat that builds up when matter decays evenly.

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There are many different types of garden compost bins and whichever type you have, you’ve made a good start towards helping the environment. You see, the reason every household should have a garden compost bin is because every piece of house and garden waste we recycle reduces our landfill problems. Those problems include the hefty costs of a failure to recycle – costs that include the costs of moving your waste to a landfill (which is typically borne by a local Council) as well as the cost of locating additional landfill sites as they rapidly fill with material that could be recycled.

Compost bins – why heat matters

The best garden compost bins are those that stay warm and are well aerated – because warmth and aeration encourages aerobic bacteria to breed and aggressively tackle organic matter, breaking it down into rich nutrient that can be reapplied to your garden as mulch or garden compost food.

Aerobic bacteria are important because they produce less odour and fewer destructive green house gases than their anaerobic counterparts. Secondly, they are usually faster at breaking down material and obviously the faster material is broken down, the faster you get nourishment for your garden.

You can keep your garden compost bin warm in a couple of ways – either through leaving it in direct sunlight (but be sure it doesn’t dry out) or by using a compost bin that is designed to stay warm by itself.

Garden compost bins – why insulation is important

Many people make the mistake of using rigid plastic bins as their garden compost bins. While these bins are practical from the point of view that they keep pesky rodents out of the garden compost, they are impractical because they do not typically insulate the compost bin against heat loss. Once the garden compost goes cold, the activity of aerobic bacteria is significantly adversely affected. In fact, it generally stops altogether and people get disillusioned about composting.

So don’t let this be you – since composting is good for the environment in many ways. When choosing a compost bin, choose one that offers you the best possible insulation properties. With heat, and a bit of dampness, your garden compost will kick along very nicely.

How to choose the right garden compost bin

When it comes to composting, there are various options for composting containers. Some people just create a compost pile in the garden somewhere, while others build their own from recycled materials. Then there are a number of commercial garden compost bins on the market.

When choosing the right garden compost bin for you, here are the questions you should ask:

1. How much kitchen and garden organic composting material do I have? This of course determines the size of the garden compost bin that is best suited to you.

2. What’s my budget? Garden compost bins vary in price and some of the more expensive garden compost bins deliver poorer performance than their cheaper counterparts.

3. How much effort do I want to put into my garden compost? If the answer is very little (or none at ll) you will need a system that self aerates and heats/dampens the garden compost.

Stay tuned for more handy tips about how to compost or check out other parts of our website for information about garden compost bins.

How to build a summer compost bin

Get great compost for free!

Building Your Own Compost Bin

If you would rather not purchase a bin for your compost pile, you should still devise a way to contain it.

Break it Down: Build Your Own Compost Bins

In the spirit of decycling, we decided to compost our yard and food waste. It will hopefully cut down on the cost of soil additives and theoretically reduce our.

Top 5 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Compost

Unbelievable as it may sound, the dust in your vacuum bin can make for a great compost ingredient.

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With that said there are still some things you can do to either speed up the process or make it more efficient. I have listed some of my tips below that have helped me with my gardening adventures and I am sure they will help you as well.

Ventilation & Aeration
Oxygen is required by all living organisms. For humans we need it to breathe and stay alive. The ecosystem in your compost pile is the same way. They need oxygen to live, throve and prosper. So when you build your compost bin, whether it is a wooden box or a store bought one, make sure there is plenty of ventilation holes in it so oxygen can get in.

Temperature
There is an optimal temperature range for compost to decompose efficiently. Starting at 90 degrees Fahrenheit up through 135 degrees Fahrenheit has been shown to be the best. Although some experts will say it can go as high as 155 degrees Fahrenheit, if you keep it within the range above you should be ok. Invest in a compost thermometer to monitor the temperature of the middle of the compost pile. When that temperature starts getting near the top range it is time to work the pile by turning it over. This keeps the center a nice level for your decomposing ecosystem to work.

Water
Your compost pile must remain moist. Let’s face it, worms, bugs, bacteria and fungi all like it a little more wet than you and if you want to excel at decomposing your organic material then misting down your pile is a great way to go. You do not need to drench it, but only apply enough water to where the pile remains moist and damp.

Reduce
Would you pick up a entire steak and put it in your mouth? Or an entire zucchini for your vegetarians out there? Of course you wouldn’t, or at least I hope not. Well your earth workers do not want to shove an entire egg shell in their mouth either. What I am getting at is if you want the optimal performance of decomposition shred or grind your material before you put it in the bin. It makes it easier for your workers and will speed up the process.

Mixture
Get a good mixture of various organic material together. You could make compost out of just grass or just leaves, but by combining them you are creating a compost that covers all of the nutrients needed by plants in your gardens. Your compost bin should consist of leaves, grass, twigs, pine cones, newspaper, paper junk mail, and old cotton clothing (all metal and plastic removed of course).

As you can see they are straight forward tips and advice that you can start implementing today for better compost.

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