Compost bin recommendations?

[AnnaRaven]

Okay so I have an old compost bin (biostack?) that I'm replacing. I really want one that allows for easy "continuous composting". I'm considering a Soilsaver Classic. I need to have something that can "hide" and "contain" the compost (I do live in a city and want to keep the neighbors happy). I also want access to the finished compost without having to disassemble the whole thing like I would with the biostack.

Anyone tried this one? if so, how well does it work for you? If you have one you prefer, can you post a link to it?

Note: I'm not interested in worm composting. Nor in debating it.

 

[TanksHill]

How do you get inside that to turn the compost. I know the top comes off but it seems a bit narrow.

I am the worst compost-er in the world.

g

 

[HEChicken]

I think that is the one I have and it is "okay". Turning it is not that easy. I usually ask DH to do it and he gets out there with a variety of different garden tools and does his best to turn it over. So far I've not had a lot of luck making compost but I think that is mostly me - that I haven't had the right Carbon/Nitrogen ratio. I got it summer '09. Late winter '10 I emptied it out and most of the stuff in it still looked the same as it did going in I put all of it on the vegie garden, covered it with new top soil and horse manure, let the chooks work it for a few weeks and then planted. I will say my garden did great on the combination.

Throughout '10 we added all kitchen scraps to it and tried to do better about adding carbon as well. When my garden was done for the year, I again emptied out the compost and put it on the garden. Towards the bottom I was finding stuff that was at least partially composted - an improvement on the previous batch

Now I'm on experiment #3. I filled the thing with shredded leaves in late fall. At the same time we started collecting, um, nitrogen-rich "fertilizer" and every few days pour a gallon into the center of the pile. We will see how well this works.

I have not had any luck with the access panels. They do raise easily enough, but because I've never had any real compost in the bin, there hasn't been anything to shovel out of them. I'm hoping that will change after Experiment #3.

Hope this helps.....

 

[i_am2bz]

I have a bin very similar to this (but not exact), I've had my compost sitting in it for about 2 years now. Granted, this was started before I had my chickens so there's no manure in it, just grass clippings, leaves, kitchen scraps, etc. It looks "okay" now & I think I'll finally put it in the garden this year. I always just took the top off & turned it as best as I could with a pitchfork.

My second bin is hand-made & pretty raggedy-looking (wood strips & chicken wire). It's a little bigger & I think maybe it works a little better because the air circulates thru it better & is easier to turn.

But I'm definitely no compost expert so welcome other opinions.

 

[Neko-chan]

...

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

My preference is for compost material to be buried directly in the garden or added to lasagna style beds.
Much less fuss, no smell, and direct benefits to the soil and plants. Works faster as well.
Just me.

 

[HEChicken]

My preference is for compost material to be buried directly in the garden or added to lasagna style beds.
Much less fuss, no smell, and direct benefits to the soil and plants. Works faster as well.
Just me.

What I've done the past two years that is similar to this and has worked for me, is to take down the fence that keeps the chooks out of the vegie garden, after the last frost, and allow them in to start fertilizing and turning it over for the next growing season. Once I reach this point, instead of adding kitchen scraps to the compost bin, I just throw it onto the vegie gardens. The chooks can pick through it and eat what they want. What they don't want, gets tilled in, providing lots of organic material for the next season. This also encourages the chooks to keep working the garden. One thing I've found is that it works best if I cut the stuff up. Takes a little extra time, but things like banana peel and avocado skins tended to just dry up and sit there before. Now that I cut them up into 1/2 - 1" pieces before throwing them out, if they don't get eaten, no biggie - they get turned into the ground quite easily, instead of sitting on top.

 

[big brown horse]

My preference is for compost material to be buried directly in the garden or added to lasagna style beds.
Much less fuss, no smell, and direct benefits to the soil and plants. Works faster as well.
Just me.

This is what I do too. I got the idea from Ruth Stout's No Work Garden book. I tuck the scraps under the 6 or so inches of mulch here and there. My garden never needs to be tilled this way.

I did have another "slow" compost pile just for horse poop. However, now I am just dumping it where I want another garden. I add chunks of wood, leaves, dirt etc and in a year or two I will have another nice raised bed, hugelkultur style.

 

[AnnaRaven]

I have limited space for a garden and we really don't get much of a frost, so that's why I'm using a container composter in the first place.

I ended up going online and finding one of those "tumbler" style bins that you roll in its base to turn the compost. Once I get it, I can move the stuff over from the decrepit "biostack" I bought for $5 at a yardsale and maybe actually get somewhere... I'll keep the other bin for gathering kitchen scraps until it's time to start a fresh batch of compost.