Compost Tumblers - Gardeners Love Them

Compost tumblers

If you're looking to turn your garbage into gardener's gold and do it in a hurry, then you should try a compost tumbler. If you have a compost bin then you know how great it is to add compost to your flower beds and vegetable garden. But making compost takes time and it's usually in short supply. A compost tumbler is a great time saver when making compost.

Some gardeners believe that compost is better than fertilizer because it doesn't just feed your plants, it also improves your soil. Improving your soil keeps your plants healthier so they grow stronger and more capable of fighting off diseases or beating droughts. Compost is decomposed organic matter and is high in nutrients that plants love. Bacteria and other micro organisms help break down that decomposing organic matter and their short life cycles become part of the process itself. When they reproduce their offspring continue the process while the parents bodies break down and add to the organic matter. It's nature's way of recycling.

Compost Tumbler

Compost Tumblers

Compost tumblers can speed up and eliminate at least part of the harder work of fast or "hot" composting. The microorganisms that do the actual composting work can be considered the livestock of the compost ranch. Like all living creatures they have three requirements for survival, food, water and air. The food is the organic material to be composted. Water is supplied by hose, bucket, or the original moisture contained in the organic material. Air is the hardest to get to the center of the pile as it slowly compacts under the pull of gravity.

A compost pile starts out as a mixture of large and small materials and air can often make its way to the center of the pile by way of pockets that are left open by the larger pieces of matter. However, as the microorganisms continue their work of composting, the larger pieces get broken down and the smaller ones compact so as to close off the air. The pile can go anaerobic as the microorganisms die off and a new type take up space. These new ones will continue the composting work but it will be slower and the pile will have an odor that most people do not like.