by Brad Sylvester

Created on: May 28, 2008

I know, I know. You've heard about composting. It's making a big pile of yard and kitchen waste in a big, smelly, unsightly heap out in the yard, and then turning it over to get the composted soil from the bottom, and then mixing that in to your garden. Sure, you know that the compost is really, really good for conditioning your garden soil and adding organic material and nutrients. And it's really good for the environment, because otherwise all that stuff ends up trucked to a landfill. And it's a sustainable method that reduces or eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers so you don't need to worry about gradually poisoning your soil with chemical residue. But, listen, you and I both know that a sprawling compost heap is really ugly in your yard, smells bad, can get all moldy, the heat generated by the decomposing material can attract snakes, the kitchen scraps attract skunks and all manner of vermin in the night, and, last but not least, it's a whole lot of work. So, all in all, a good idea, but it's just not worth the aggravation. Right? Well, what if I told you that we could eliminate every single one of those objections and preserve all the benefits? The good news is that's exactly what I'm telling you. Let me show you how.

So let's get started by examining each of the possible hassles of composting one by one.

Controlling Odors and Mold

First, compost heaps can smell bad. This is usually caused by lack of oxygen or adding food waste faster than it can be broken down so that the compost material stays too wet. Using a compost tumbler goes a long, long way to solving this problem. With a tumbler, you just need to spin the compost bin every couple of days or so. About 30 seconds worth of effort every two to three days. If you miss a cycle or two, no big deal, nothing bad will happen. Just give it a couple extra spins next time you get to it. It doesn't get much easier than that! Spinning the compost bin mixes the composting material and adds oxygen as it tumbles. Almost all tumblers will also have a number of air holes/ drain holes around the bin. This also allows excess water to drain from the bin as it spins. If you are not using a tumbler, then there's another way to fix the problem. Controlling the ratio of nitrogen based materials to carbon based materials will also help regulate the rate of decomposition and prevent unwanted odors. Usually, odor from the composter means that the concentration of nitrogen-rich material is too high. OK, we don't expect

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