A back porch compost tumbler is an attractive idea for many gardeners. One of the classic problems with a compost pile is that it is usually pretty far away from the house, and it becomes more work than seems necessary to collect all the kitchen scraps and store them until you are read to make the trek out to the garden. You can of course store those scraps in a compost crock for a few days, or even do the composting in the house with a kitchen composter, but it would really be handy to have the compost pile right on the back porch. Here is a look at one of the options for putting a composter on the back porch.

One of the most common purchases a new gardener makes when they start composting is to buy a compost starter to get their compost pile up and active. Do you need a compost starter, and if so what should your look for?

The goal of any gardener is get to get the compost pile working quickly, as compost is one of the most desirable soil amendments around, and compost seems to take forever to finish off. Compost starters offer the allure of just adding something to a pile, and it magically speeds things along.

If you’ve been composting for any length of time you will have discovered that most of the time your compost pile has parts of it ripen faster than others. You may have a wide array of composted materials, since some of use throw most anything in the pile, and larger items like tree branches or even the main stalks of vegetable plants like broccoli or okra will break down much more slowly than shredded leaves or chipped wood.

For anyone who is interested in composting, one of the tools that helps a great deal in speeding up the process of making compost is a chipper shredder. And every fall the homeowner with a tree faces the job of getting rid of the leaves without filling the landfills.There are a number of different options for chipping your yard and garden waste. Without a doubt the large gas powered chipper shredders will do the fastest job and handle the largest branches. But the gas powered shredders are often out of the price range of the average home gardener. But the electric chipper shredders are priced much less, and can pretty much handle the yard waste for the average gardener. Here is a look at a couple of electric chipper models, along with features you may want to make sure you have in the chipper you get for your yard.

Compost thermometers. What are the advantages to using a compost thermometer and how do you use one?

When a compost pile is the most active, the interior of the compost pile will heat up significantly. If you’ve had a good compost pile running before, it’s not uncommon on a crisp fall day to lift the top layer of a pile up and see steam rise from the pile from the gray decomposing mass of the active part of the pile. The internal temperature of an active pile can reach 110 to 140 degrees F after a few days, and this is when the pile is most active and productive.

The Tumbleweed composter is one of the more popular compost tumblers on the market today. Tumblers have many advantages over a traditional compost bin in terms of speed, ease of use, and protection from vermin and other pests. Here we look at some of the pros and cons of the Tumbleweed composter.

The Tumbleweed is an example of a center axle compost tumbler. There are different from some of the more expensive drum compost tumblers like the Mantis Compostwin which rotate about the axis, similar to what would happen if you were to roll the drum.

If you are serious about composting, you want a way to store kitchen scraps without the smell. Compost crocks or compost pails are an attractive way to store scraps out of sight, and out of mind since they can eliminate the smell you may get with scraps that are stored for a day or more.

Both a compost crock or a kitchen compost pail are a small (approximately 1 gallon) container that can sit on the kitchen counter or under the sink. Typically a compost crock is a ceramic container, while a pail is a metal container. For either one you want to get a container that has a tightly sealed top to help contain the odor and keep the pests like flies out. Many have a rubber or silicon like ring to form a tight seal.

If you have an active compost bin or pile, a compost aerator or turner is an easy and low cost way to speed up the compost pile. Here’s a look at several types of compost tools that will help you turn the pile with a minimum of effort.

The purpose of a compost aerator is twofold. One, as the name implies, by turning the pile you get air into the middle of the pile more efficiently so the microbes can do their work. It also helps to distribute the moisture more efficiently, so you don’t end up with a slimy mess if you are trying to compost a large amount of green material like grass clippings.

Most folks who are serious about gardening eventually come to the decision to include a garden composter in the yard. But what makes the best garden composter. As you can imagine, it varies for each individual, but here are some thoughts on how to choose the best garden composter for your needs.

The Garden Gourmet Composter is a best seller. It’s a relatively simple low cost compost bin. But is the Garden Gourmet a good composter for you? Here we take a look at the best uses of the Garden Gourmet compost bin.

The Garden Gourmet was featured on the Oprah Winfrey show, so it’s gotten a lot of press. It’s actually manufactured by Scepter Corporation and licensed for distribution in the US by the name Garden Gourmet. There are many other compost bins that are offered for sale that appear quite similar. They have been shipping for years, so there’s a good deal of real world experience that says they will last for many years.

The Envirocycle composter is one of the more popular compost tumbler designs. It’s two main advantages are that it is relatively inexpensive for a tumbler, and the base of the tumbler will collect a “compost tea” that can be used as a fertilizer before the compost is actually finished.

There is quite a range of different types of compost tumblers to choose from. Probably the most popular tumbler style is the center axle compost tumbler, as it represents a good tradeoff between ease of use vs cost and complexity. Buying one of these is more expensive that a typical bin, but it allows you to regularly turn the pile with a minimum of effort, which is the main reason you want a tumbler to begin with. Our favorite of these is the Urban Compost Tumbler.

We’ve already written some about some reasons to start composting. And it doesn’t take any real money to get started composting on your own. But some gardeners would like to compost, but either aren’t handy enough to set up a compost bin, or just don’t have the time. But you don’t want to spend a ton of money, and would just like a good low cost compost bin. The Soilsaver compost bin is one of the most popular, so we take a look at how it will work for you.

Why Compost? The are a lot of good reasons to start composting.

As any gardener knows, you end up with a lot of garden waste over the course of the year that you have to get rid of in some way. For gardeners, harvest time means a lot of refuse.

Burn your waste: Not really a sustainable mode, and as a pragmatic matter it’s simple against the law in many places. Besides, it’s not that pleasant a way to deal with you yard waste.

This video featuring Pam Bennet and the Gateway Learning Gardens of Ohio State is a great introduction to composting. It touches on different types of compost bins, the material mix to use in building a compost pile, watering properlly, and strategies for turning the pile to keep it active.

I’ve used a variety of compost aerators over the years. Starting with a simple pitchfork in the bin, after moving to a couple of barrel style composters, I found that the pitchfork didn’t really work that well. I used a couple of different styles, starting with the type that has a couple of wings flare out on the side as you pull it out through the compost.