Compost tumblers

Are they any good ? How well do the work.

 

Yes, probably helpful in making compost faster, but if you just made a pile you would (in time) get compost. Hugely expensive for any real gain that you might see.

 

The real problem with gadgets that replace nature is that you have to control the conditions inside the barrel, takes a lot of patience and you have to keep up with the comitment. If you make a pile like Kristen said nature will do it all for you given time and a lot better job as all the correct bacteria and insects know what to do.

 

I have a heap but it takes a lot of faffing about. An now my council is altering its recycle policy where as I was able to have 3 garden waste bins which I was able to get pretty much most of my green waste into now they are only giving us one garden bin an if u want another u will have to pat £40 a year for it, so I've been looking around for a system which will compost quicker well enough to use as mulch

 

a wormery is my next project

 

My sister had one and I thought it was good but she didn't get on with it. It takes up much more space for the amount of compost than a regular heap because you have to allow for turning space. She had to hide it behind a massive phormium.
Also, turning the thing over with a lot of stuff inside is quite a tough physical job for a small person. Factors to bear in mind.

 

I was thinking of the ones you hand crank over

 

I got a couple of Daleks at a "subsidised" price from my council. They had a variety of compost bins on offer (no tumblers though, that I remember ...). Might be worth an ask if they might have anything that you could usefully use.

I'm all for folk being incentivised to home-compost - assuming they have something more than a balcony in a tower block!

 

I have a couple of darlek bins they work after a fashion but I live in a raul area an have a fairly big garden and the people next to me now keep chickens an that has brought the a few rats in so I need a sealed unit as they got into my last heap so I had to remove it all which got rid of them. The local tip used to run a scheme where you collected a ticket every time you went an when you had 10 you swapped them for a couple of bags of compost it was good stuff to but the stopped it because it was to popular ! Don't you just love councils eh.

 

I brought a second hand Blackwall Tumbler about 8 weeks ago, they take up more space then a normal bin as you need to allow room for the bin to swing 360 degrees

Also with the lid on the bin there is no chance of getting any moisture into the bin, so I normally add a drop water every time I add something to the bin, the other thing I noticed is that as the bin fills it becomes more heavier to swing the bin, as Madahhlia pointed out this could be important to the smaller person.

 

Cheers chaps an chapessess thank you some good advice