Welcome to Best Garden Composters. If you are a gardener and you want to have healthy plants then you will want to invest in a garden composter.
But how do you use one effectively? There is no right or wrong way to do composting. However, a good composter can certainly make the job easier.
If you are an organic gardener then you will not be wanting to use pesticides, fungicides, or commercial fertilizers (chemicals) on your plants. With composting you don’t have to use any of these and you will get healthy plants.
When you use a composter you are recycling all the kitchen scraps and yard trimmings that would otherwise end up in the landfill.
It is important to note that you can’t put everything from your kitchen into a composter.
Composting needs to use biodegradable, organic material. This means those materials need to be free of contaminants and chemicals. For instance, you can’t put pet waste into a composter since there may be parasites or other bugs you don’t want in your compost.
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There are a number of different composters available. When you have a composter in your garden you can avoid having to dig or mix your compost by hand.
The most popular types of composters are the ones that tumble. You simply add the material and turn the composter in order to mix everything together.
You just add kitchen and garden waste, and by turning the composter a few times every two or three days, you will end up with compost in about two to three weeks.
Here are three of our recommended tumbling composters:
- Miracle-Gro Single Chamber Tumbling Composter
- EJWOX Garden Compost Bin Tumbler
- Hot Frog Dual Body Tumbling Composter
Reasons to Have a Composter
One of the good things about garden composters is they are made of durable material. They are often made of either metal or recycled plastic. Many can be moved around since they are on wheels.
Most garden composters are easy to assemble and some even come already assembled. You can also choose different size composters that not only fit your needs but your yard size as well.
You will want to place your garden composter in an area that is close to your house and near a water source. You should also consider the seasons. The composter should be placed in an area that allows for easy turning and use.
Add the materials to the composter. You can use dead leaves, branches, and twigs. These are considered brown materials.
You also need to add in green material such as plant trimmings, fruit and vegetable scraps, and coffee grounds.
Other materials that you can add to your garden composter are cardboard rolls, clean paper, coffee filters, dryer, and vacuum cleaner lint, eggshells, hair, hay, straw, nutshells, sawdust, shredded newspaper, tea bags, and yard trimmings.
You may need to add water to the pile. However, this is usually not necessary since the decomposing of the materials makes for moisture in the composter.
You will need to turn the pile a few times a week. This will add in the much-needed oxygen to help make compost. As well it helps air to circulate.
One item you might want to add to your composter is a thermometer. This can help you determine when the pile is ready for turning.
Add the thermometer to the middle of the pile and when the temperature has reached between 130 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, it is ready to turn.
When you have enough finished compost, remove it from the composter and start your next batch with some of the fully decomposed material. This way you will be making your compost a lot faster.
How Does a Garden Composter Work?
If you want to recycle organic material then you will want to use a composting bin. These composters allow all the kitchen and yard waste to be recycled and to make new soil for your garden.
Your plants will thrive with all the rich nutrients available in compost material.
Most composters are made of hard plastic or metal with a lid that is attached with fasteners. You will add kitchen and yard waste and then either rotate the bin or mix it up with a pitchfork.
This needs to be done at least three to four times a week.
Probably the best kind of composter is the tumblers since they are easy to turn in order to mix up the compost as it is decaying. You also don’t have to move around the heavy material by hand.
With a composter, you don’t need to use any chemicals. All you need to do is add the waste and let the composter do its job. The first batch might take a little longer to create the compost.
However, after that, you just need to save some of the compost by leaving it in the bin. This way when you add new material it will take less time to complete the composting cycle.
Each composter is different when it comes to making compost. As well weather will play a large part in how fast the compost is made.
The size of material that is added to the bin can also make a difference. The smaller the ingredients, the more often you turn the compost, the quicker it will mature.
You don’t need to add water to the material in the composter. Since composters are either made from metal or plastic it is able to retain the natural moisture from the kitchen waste and garden scraps.
When adding kitchen scraps to the composter, make sure it is all organic waste.
You can’t add meat or other proteins as you will end up with a rancid batch and also that might attract rodents and bugs. This will not help your compost.
By adding organic material to your composter you will end up with thousands of micro-organisms working together to convert this material to humus.
Adding this to your soil will make it lighter and more porous. As well your flowers and vegetables will get all sorts of naturally occurring minerals.
One of the many benefits of using a garden composter is your plants will be more disease resistant.
As well you get to recycle kitchen scraps and garden waste that could end up in the landfill instead of in your garden producing beautiful plants.
