I often get the impression that to get your ticket punched as a real, serious gardener you have to take up composting. Still, I gave up on polishing my halo a dozen years ago. The old-fashioned compost pile I had took way more maintenance than I was interested in…all the hassles, especially keeping the beast stirred and watered.
Since those days tumbling composters have really come into their own as an alternative to the piles that just sit there like Uncle Ervin on his Barca-Lounger in front of the TV. The promise of a compost device that simplifies keeping the mix stirred and aerated sounded almost too god to be true, but I’ve been tempted to give them a twirl.
The opportunity came up as I headed to the back aisles at Costco to pick up some cheese and bread. On my way to the back of the store a big tumbling composter tried to reel me in with its dark tractor beam.
The thing with this store is that you usually have your choice of the one item they offer for sale, which in this case was the 80-gallon Lifetime model 60021 tumbling composter. (Costco offers several other models online.) Even with a price tag less than $100 I resisted at first. But I went home and did a little research online. Judging by the customer reviews people generally seemed to like this model, with the main complaint being being about an internal aerating tube that kept getting bent because it was made out of PVC. It seemed like a valid but relatively minor concern, so I decided to give the composter a try.
When you buy this model, you’re really buying a composter kit, not an assembled composter. I documented the time I started, before I opened the box, before I assembled the necessary tools (which ended up requiring–among other things–an electric drill and socket wrenches), before I read the instructions that recommended that it would take two adults to assemble it. John is still hobbling around on crutches right now, so I decided to go it alone.
From the documented end time you can see that it took me about an hour and fifty minutes to put it together. That includes time spent taking a few pieces apart after I’d installed them incorrectly, as well as a few minutes when John came out to supervise my work and ogle the new toy. I’m generally pretty handy with mechanical things, if a little impatient to read all the way through instructions. I also did okay hefting the big 65 pound box the kit came in, and had the added benefit of a power screwdriver. Adjust your expectations for assembly time and effort accordingly.
Things fit together easily and made for a sturdy, double-walled, insulating composting chamber. Apparently the company read the customer complaints about the PVC aerating tube, because by the time they made my version of the model, the flimsy internal part had been replaced with a rigid piece of perforated metal pipe.
The composter now lives outside the kitchen, alongside the trashcans and recycle barrels. It shouldn’t be hard to keep the compost barrel fed and tumbled. Once the barrel is filled it’ll need a few weeks for the compost to cook to perfection, a time when you shouldn’t be feeding it more clippings and scraps. To do things right, having a second barrel at the ready for those times would be the way to go. Within a few weeks I should have a better idea whether this model of composter lives up to my expectations and warrants my buying a second one.
So, will I become a real, serious, composting gardener? I’d say it’s off to a good start.
I love the pic of the inaugural kitchen scraps! Hehe! I also think it’s great that the composter is already sporting an equality logo!
Nice writeup…I hope it’ll work well for you. We are trying to figure out what type we are going to get. This one will be added to my list.
I’m always impressed by serious composters. I myself just throw stuff into a bin, add water and turn when I feel like it, and empty the whole thing about once a year… This looks much more advanced. Should be fun, I have a friend who has a tumbling composter and really likes it.
oh yeah. Now you’re REALLY a gardener! 🙂
I’d love to hear an update on this later on and know how it goes!
I’ve seen that model and been wanting one. It looks kind of like a barbecue. Enjoy.
I love the inaugural scraps photo! My compost bin is shared by any number of woodland animals. It’s just the big old manure composting bins from when we had a horse. it’s far from the house which has the disadvantage that you have to accumulate scraps (we put them in a large soup pot with lid) and schlep them down there. But it has the advantage that they are huge bins, and I hope I can just keep filling em and by the time the third is filled the first should be ready – we shall see. I just hope nobody takes up residence actually in the pile. I’d hate to turn up a nest of baby california mice! I think about reinforcing the other two bins with more netting to try to keep the critters out, but I think it would be a futile gesture. I mix in garden refuse too. Entirely haphazard and unscientific, but a start. The last plastic composter we had was totally a failure for us – your tumbling one looks good – I’m waiting to hear how it goes for you. We should prob. compost our kitchen scraps that way, keeping them from the critters. BTW I recently learned that a huge amount of methane is caused by food scraps thrown away and taken to the dump. I hope composting is a better way to go for the planet too. And of course eating leftovers, and not leaving veggies to die a slow death by refrigeration!
I have wondered how effective these kind of composters are, be sure to keep us updated!
My composters have always been housemates. I too have been to lazy to do all that work. But something that does it with the turn of a handle is very tempting. I think I’d need a smaller model though.
Been wanting to start composting. Need to get a composter. This looks like a possibility.
The composter is pretty darn neat, but I have to say I’m more smitten by that watch! Hot!
Jim, I’m finding that the composter has one bad trait: equality stickers don’t stay very well attached to it. Could be a problem.
Jan, I’ll have to check in with your posts to see which way you go with a composter.
TM, my old pile created an amazing compost after about 8 years of not watering or tending it. So far the current one is working a whole lot faster.
Wendy, I’ll post on this in a week or two. It’s really close to full and it’s about time to let the contraption do its thing.
CM, partly at our encouragement an aunt got herself a regular sit-on-the-ground composter, but it sounds like your model worked about as well as this one has for the aunt. The old earthbound pile we called the compost heap definitely sustained small critters, mice included. Since we let the thing sit and almost never turned it, I think many mouse generations did just fine.
SAB, so far so good. I’ll be sure to post on how well it does.
Brad, a model for mostly kitchen debris could be pretty small, though my guess is that a certain size is good for maintaining heat inside the bin to encourage quicker composting. I know it’s still a new toy, but rotating the bin is still kinduv a fun activity.
WOTP, so far this is working out. I hope you find a model that suits your space and what you want to do with it.
Christine, yah, I had to show off my favorite watch. 4 years with it on my wrist and I still like it–not that I’m fickle or anything…
I’ve also purchased this from the Vancouver (Canada) Costco for $99CAD. Assembly too a bit longer as I had my 2 kids (12 & 9) help out. Solid construction, very impressed. I have mine sitting over my concrete carpad so I’ve placed a piece of plastic sloped towards my yard to direct the compost tea. There are gaps between the 5 plastic panels to allow rain water to get in and compost tea to drip out.
Vancouver hasn’t had great spring so far as the temperature is under 20C so I don’t know how long it will take to get my first batch of black gold. I add mostly kitchen scraps and spin it at least once a week. No smell, but it attracted some small flying critters that swams all over you when you open the hatch. Need to walk away from it and do a bit of gardening around the yard before going into the house if you don’t want to let those flying critters in.
Instead of buying a second one to I might collect my 2nd batch scraps in a garbage bin until my first batch is done.
Keep us all posted lostlandscape. And lots of pictures would be awesome.