This past spring, I bought a Lifetime Products' compost tumbler at Costco, thinking to myself, "Cool, this will be a great way to recycle yard waste and improve the garden. Mom would be proud." While my wife has been a little restrained in her enthusiasm (shall we say?) and my neighbor likes to give me grief about "lowering property values," I've been impressed. It's easy to use, relatively inconspicuous (honestly, does it look that bad?), and here's the kicker: it eats EVERYTHING.
The thing has a "capacity" of 75 gallons, but I feel like I've put 10 times that volume of yard clippings, paper bags, sawdust, watermelon rinds and the like into that little black hole over the past several months, and there's still plenty of room. Pretty odd, really. It's like a reverse magicians hat: insert rabbit, presto! nothing. Open lid, put lots of stuff in, come back later, stuff gone, and what appears to be the same little bit of brown/black dirt keeps tumbling around in the bottom. I kept hoping I'd fill it several times over the course of a season, but no such luck. Not enough stuff around to "complete the batch."
But I guess that's the point of composting. All that junk--which would normally go to the landfill--gets boiled down into some kinda supercharged soil packed with every nutrient imaginable. Not bad, not bad at all, and maybe worth a bit of grief from the Mrs. and the neighbors.
4 comments:
I've noticed the same thing with mine, except mine is not working so wonderfully. Any hints? I think I started out with too much green and not enough brown, and now it's too dry because i think i overcompensated. Can it be corrected? Glad it's working for you :)
Katie: if it's too dry, you can always add water to get it damp, not soaking wet. I try to keep a balance of green and brown and it seems to work pretty well. The only trouble is that I keep adding stuff, so I don't have a finished product yet.
congratulations, composter. Every time I dump a garbage can full of compostable stuff into the dumpster I feel a twinge of regret. Very cool that it's working for you.
I have been composting (just in a yard box) for almost 2 years and I have also been amazed at how much I put in. I finally emptied it and started a new one recently and am enjoying the process. We keep a compost bucket in the kichen and send it out to the box almost daily with one of the kids. I dont worry about what I put in at all. Sometimes sawdust, sometimes grass & mostly kitchen scraps. Enjoyed the post.
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