Just bought a compost tumbler on the weekend. Can someone tell me how to get it started? So far I've chucked in some old potting mix and grass clippings. I'll save the veggie peelings from the kitchen, but what else do I need to do? Thanks.
Judie
Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Oct 19, 2010 10:15 pm Just bought a compost tumbler on the weekend. Can someone tell me how to get it started? So far I've chucked in some old potting mix and grass clippings. I'll save the veggie peelings from the kitchen, but what else do I need to do? Thanks. Judie Re: Starting a compost tumbler 3Oct 20, 2010 12:08 am I say do chuck in onion, citrus and fruit. Throw in some dolomite of lime if it gets a bit woofy. Some seamungus as well and molasses If it is too wet, add newspaper and or straw, if it is too dry, add water and wet stuff like fruit and lawn clippings. Throw in dolomite of lime (three - five handfuls.) Re: Starting a compost tumbler 5Oct 20, 2010 7:43 am Ive got a tumbler too. Pretty much all food scraps from the kitchen including napkins goes in it. most of the lawn clippings goes in it too. Oh and so do flowers once they reach their use by in the vase. Fu - thanks for the lime tip - mine does get on the nose a bit. Also how do you stop all the little flying insects making it their home. I open the lid and sometimes theres hundreds of the little buggars. Built The Huntley 290 with HomeXcellance / Cheviot Homes Starting a compost tumbler 6Oct 20, 2010 7:49 am TheOK Fu Manchu I say do chuck in onion, citrus and fruit. really?.. I'm with the understanding worms hate it. I thought that too. Remember father always telling me to put onion scraps in the bin and not in compost! Re: Starting a compost tumbler 7Oct 20, 2010 9:55 am Anything that was once living should go into a worm farm, even meat. However the meat will smell so if you don't have somewhere for it out of the way, don't put meat in but that is only in regard to the smell. Not for any other reason. There is already a fair bit posted here on worm farms and composting but more is related to worm farms. The compost tumblers are good because they are sealed units. No mucky rodents to get in there For an effective compost set up we all should be using two compost units. This is because we can't just indefinitely keep using and also adding to compost. You will be making a cake and while one is baking, the other is there for use. This is part of why composting in urban areas is so difficult, it takes up a heap of space. What is being found is that gardens should be used as horizontal compost heaps anyway. If it has been chopped from a tree we are far better off shredding it or cutting it up smaller and putting it straight back onto the soil. This does a few things in a much more efficient manner, the most important being that vital nutrients specific to certain plants are returned to them in the perfect ratio they are looking for. It also is fertiliser wise to do that. For kitchen waste, a worm farm will well and truly out perform any compost heap any day. So for an urban garden a smaller worm farm unit is great. For bigger blocks, make up a bath tub inside a bench like frame of recycled timbers and make a lid for the top. There is an effective worm farm for a family and it doubles as a good bench for BBQ's and parties. No one will ever know what is under the lid and because they won't smell, they will be a welcome and convenient option in any landscape design. Just lift the lid and scrape the left over s in Lawn clippings, well you would be better to not use a catcher and let the clippings compost back into the lawn area You can potentially eliminate the need for fertiliser that way if you are still convinced they are what you need for your domestic turf surface. Use the methods for domestic turf care I have posted and you will get those clippings composted into the lawn in no time There is a heap of really interesting studies being done or have been done on all this Re: Starting a compost tumbler 8Oct 20, 2010 10:07 am Judie, get along to the Kimbriki Eco Centre http://www.ecohouseandgarden.com.au/ http://www.ecohouseandgarden.com.au/con ... -workshops http://www.ecohouseandgarden.com.au/con ... ial-events http://www.kimbriki.com/content/buy-rec ... n-products viewtopic.php?p=393185#p393185 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=20735&p=267898&hilit=compost+worm+farm#p267898 viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7406&p=297374&hilit=compost+worm+farm#p297374 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=28558&p=393185&hilit=compost+worm+farm+kimbriki#p393185 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=19086&p=241105&hilit=compost+worm+farm#p241105 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=23036&p=335890&hilit=compost+worm+farm#p335890 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=25816&p=350041&hilit=compost+worm+farm#p350041 viewtopic.php?f=36&t=29159&p=402289&hilit=compost+worm+farm#p402289 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=29681&p=412323&hilit=compost+worm+farm#p412323 Re: Starting a compost tumbler 11Oct 20, 2010 9:17 pm Fu Manchu For bigger blocks, make up a bath tub inside a bench like frame of recycled timbers and make a lid for the top. There is an effective worm farm for a family and it doubles as a good bench for BBQ's and parties. No one will ever know what is under the lid and because they won't smell, they will be a welcome and convenient option in any landscape design. Just lift the lid and scrape the left over s in Sounds great FU, You don't happen to have any photos do you??? Thanks K Re: Starting a compost tumbler 13Oct 20, 2010 11:36 pm Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Of course there would be all sorts of variations you can do Splitting the lid into two sections is very handy. You don't have to have big red wheels but wheels will make it easy to move. You could do some doors on there if you wanted. Make it look a bit tidier and of course some nice oil on the timber would look a treat http://www.growingfree.com.au/ Re: Starting a compost tumbler 14Oct 21, 2010 6:53 pm Thanks for the pic, i wasn't sure if you really meant a bath tub but after seeing the photos i know you were serious. I'll have to have a look into it to see if i can get one - and see if the husband is handy enough to build it. Re: Starting a compost tumbler 16Oct 30, 2012 10:31 am I personally use the Easy Composter http://www.compostbins.net.au/. To begin with I added garden waste such as leaved and grass clippings then I added kitchen waste and scraps and turned it about twice a week. |