From Garden to Garden

I've been doodling with the idea of learning to compost for a while. It seemed intimidating, although on a level I was already doing it since I would throw garden scraps and yard waste behind the electrical box in our yard and it was composting away happily back there. I was going to have Brandon build me a three stage composting box just so he would have a project. To get really good compost fast you have to aerate and turn the pile often, which is a lot of work. I might do it in the summer when its nicer outside, but chances are if it was too much work I'd stop doing it. I did some research and decided to buy some compost tumblers to make the whole process easier. I decided on this one: Envirocycle Compost Tumbler

It was reviewed well, seemed big enough for what I needed, easy to rotate and collects the compost leachate I can use in my garden sprayer instead of miracle grow. Win win win! I decided it would be necessary to get two of them, one to be adding matter to actively, and one untouched to allow to cook. Amazon two day shipping and they're here and I love them already!

Just arrived, I knew they were big, but somehow they just seem huge once they got here. Capacity of 7 cubic feet each, about 52 gallons.

Zoey is excited to start composting. I don't think she really gets it yet, but she knows I'm throwing stuff inside of there. Before I put a significant amount of stuff in the thing Ian was able to rock it off the base and roll it around the yard.

Added some greens, garden and kitchen scraps, and some browns, shredded newspaper and credit card offers. Gave the whole thing a good tumbling and its ready to sit for a while. It's only about 1/4 full right now, so I've got another half of filling to go before I let it sit and cook. The instructions say 4 to 6 weeks to finish. I hope I'll have some in time for my summer garden. We'll see

Here's the pair. I put them pretty close to the back door. most reviews said they didn't smell (shouldn't if you compost right) and didn't have problems with critters. I wanted them to be easily accessible from the house and the garden so I wouldn't be a bother to add scraps and give them a turn. I hope to update in a couple weeks on how well they work!