Composting bin recommendations

[guidosmom]

I am new to composting, and have been researching different composting bins/methods the past few weeks. I have researched online, and have become quite overwhelmed. I visited several larger West Seattle stores to try to find more ideas and get advice, but have yet to find anything or get any solid advice. I am turning to the WS Blog if anyone has any composting bin recommendations and/or advice.

We are a mostly vegatarian household (we do eat some fish), recycle as much as possible, most of our garbage waste comes from vegetable waste. We love to garden, so if we can turn that mostly vegetable matter into a compost we can use for our garden it would be wonderful.

Does anyone have any recommendations on compost bins? And any local companies to purchase or build them? Any advice would be very much appreciated too. Thanks.

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[Garden_nymph]

I would highly recommend the Can-O-Worms by Triformis. Amazon currently has it on sale and we have had great success with it. Here is what the ad says, “Finally… A Can-O-Worms Worth Opening! The Can-O-Worms is an odorless, user-friendly worm composting system that allows anyone to participate in recycling and garden enrichment through composting. Can-O-Worms Whether you live in an apartment or have a backyard, you can provide organic fertilizer for indoor plants and your garden. Stacked ring-upon-ring, each section of this worm condo can house thousands of worms for composting year round. Each unit features a tap drain on the lowest ring to collect compost tea directly from the source. Harvesting of castings (worm manure) is easy because the worms eat their way up, leaving their rich castings behind which are readily removed, free of worms. The Can-O-Worms stands on five sturdy legs, approximately 29″ tall x 20″ wide. Made from durable 100% recycled plastic to give many years of vermicomposting success. Worms can be purchased separately. Be sure to use only special composting redworms…” I had previously bought the square version sold by the city of Seattle and it was flimsy and awkward to use. The interior of the lid was wood that soon became rotten and moldy and the design allowed rain to flood the worms when it rained (and since we live in Seattle…) I could go on and on about why I would stay away from that unit. I like the round design of the Can-o-worms; it is well designed. The spigot is great for “worm tea”. The only downfall is that the legs needed reinforcing (my yard is not perfectly level and the legs started to buckle a bit), I used big bamboo poles cut to length and inserted into the legs and have been delighted with it since! Seattle Tilth is where I bought my worms. Good luck!

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[WSMom]

My sister has a Worm Factory that she’s had good success with (she moved it into the kitchen this winter so her worms wouldn’t get cold, reports no odors).

Here’s a local mom with a worm/compost bin business:

http://shop.wormmama.com/main.sc

Seattle Public Utilities has affordable options:

http://www.seattle.gov/UTIL/Services/Yard/Natural_Lawn_&_Garden_Care/BuyCompostBinsRainBarrels/SPU01_002460.asp

I have three older versions of this composter filled with kitchen scraps, leaves, grass clippings etc. All three are rolling in red worms, even though this isn’t a true worm bin

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11334821&search=compost&Mo=3&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=compost&Ntt=compost&No=1&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

If you’d like to see what I do, please PM me.

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