What kind of container for composting

Finished compost can be removed from a hatch at the bottom while the upper layers continue to decompose. If we could name a status compost bin it would be the Aerobin Simply add your lawn clippings, food scraps, old newspapers, and plain cardboard at the top and let it do the rest. You should start seeing rich usable compost in as little as a few months. The Aerobin also features a liquid reservoir at its base and a spigot so you can collect and use the concentrated leachate or compost tea as additional fertilizer — just remember to dilute it first.

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Every editorial product is independently selected. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission. Account Profile. Sign Out. Photo: retailer. Buy at Amazon. Compost Now. Good Ideas Compost Wizard Jr. Let It Rot! Need we say more? With the right mix of fresh food scraps and natural dry materials, your compost will thrive. Use a ratio that is roughly parts carbon material ie. Too much dry material will slow down decomposition, while not enough will lead to a smelly bin!

With long rubber gloves on avoid using a shovel if you have worms, as you can kill them! Turning too often— like daily— will disrupt the formation of the fungi and actinomycetes that help with decomposition. In contrast, leaving your compost to sit too long can lead to some crazy growth yes, food scraps can root and start growing in there like they were planted in the dirt!

Pro tip: Keep it moist. Spritz some winter into your compost frequently, keeping the inside of the container nice and moist to induce decay. Sprinkle some of this dense organic matter around your garden or throughout your lawn. The great thing about compost is that it can take a few days to slowly break down and nourish your plants, needing to first incorporate into the soil before sending juice to your roots.

Lay down a fresh layer of compost once a month during the growing season, or whenever you have enough to spread around. Then, ta-da! Your landscape will flourish. If you love taking care of your landscape yourself, then you have to contact us to get our Ultimate Guide to Fertilization! It includes a whole section on composting, as well as more information about choosing the best fertilizer for your yard.

PS my tropical fish just love them. Well thank you Robin! It is pretty easy and I'm pretty confident just about anyone could do it. As always, I appreciate you! This is an easy follow and understandable to a common intellect, so for me, it works. If I were staying in my house and planning a garden, I would follow this guide in a heartbeat. As always, you are creative in finding just the right topics with simple solutions to save money.

Mary, you changed your picture Okay, LOL nope, no green jeans today, but I'm glad you enjoyed this hub. They really are very easy to make and quite practical. Glad you liked it and thank you Who would've thought Another outstanding bit of advice from Farmer Bill! Are you wearing green jeans? Thank you for sharing. In SF we are provided with this free. We are fined if we put compost with regular garbage. I just happen to have a bunch of these that I was going to get rid of.

I think I'll make a couple of compost bins now. Great idea. I had a community garden plot once in a garden that didn't do so well with the community composting. This would have been a space efficient idea to keep my own compost bin going in my little plot.

I have pinned it for future reference, as I love to garden when I can. Voted up and sharing. Well thank you, Barbara Kay! It certainly is much easier and in many ways cleaner.

Hope it works for you! We have a compost pile, but I have never tried the plastic container. I think I'll give it a try next summer. Thanks for the good information. Much cheaper, too! Thanks for taking the time to find this one, Terrie! I really appreciate you doing that. We made something similar to this once.

I need to do it again. We have some clay areas where things just will not grow without lots of potting soil. This sounds better and more fun than buying bags of soil. Thanks for the great idea, Bill!

This is something I keep wanting to do, but I do not do it since I live in an apartment. Voted up! Ruchira, it can be a problem if the lid is not secure and it is close to the house. We keep ours by the garden about thirty feet from the house, so we have never had that problem. I hope it works out for you in some manner Thanks Rich! I never thought of that but it makes good sense.

I just might have to do that this weekend and see what I can find. I'm quite familiar with dumpster diving! Since then, I am always debating this idea. As usual, your idea was simple and in my budget. Have many plastic containers but got to gather some strength against the mice :.

Bill - Another good idea. Another good place to get buckets and plastic containers is in the dumpsters of pet stores. A lot of different items they use come in 5 - 10 gallon buckets with locking lids. I used to use them as containers to hold snakes after catching them, and could find them just about any time I needed one.

I do recommend washing them thoroughly as some contain chemicals. Great job, my friend! Joseph, I can't imagine what I would do if I weren't writing. You can count on the hubs daily until I drop.

Kelly, I'm so sorry Rain barrels are pretty easy to make; if you can find a used food barrel I can teach you how to make it a rain barrel! Check craigslist or maybe some food processing plants in your area Hey Sha, great ideas! We have our wooden compost bin outside by the garden, and we use this portable one until it is full and then we transfer it to the bigger one.

Works like a charm! Alex, we honestly haven't had trouble with animals, but then we have three dogs. An open compost container will for sure attract coons, and I don't have a clue how to prevent it other than to make it coon-proof! Thank you and good morning! I'll do a little research on that because now you have me curious. Great tips to help nature. Recycling compost for those weekend gardeners is a must. Not ready myself for a garden of my own, but I'm already learning with your frugal tips my friend.

Have a nice one, and keep on hubbing billy! Darn it Bill! It is absolutely no better than your idea! I could have spent that on a weeks worth of groceries! Ok well how about a rain barrel? Can you make me one of those? Nice job, Bill. My Green Tip 3 illustrates how to make a composter from a plastic garbage can. Because it's bigger, it's hard to move. I have to use a shovel to dig out compost when I need it. That is until a friend of mine made one for me from a 50 gallon steel drum. It has a hinged door and is on rollers so I can turn the compost.

I now use my garbage can composter for starting the next batch. Compost is a wonderful thing! It saves money and is a natural recycling mechanism benefiting the earth. I like this idea a lot - and keeping it just outdoors near the kitchen in the winter. Do you find it attracts animals though? If so, do you have any suggestions that might help discourage them?