Compost Crank Garden Give-Away
Compost Crank
One of the perpetual persnickety problems I have with the garden is turning my compost; a tremendous hassle when you have osteoarthritis and a small urban composting bin. My back hurts, but I have found a solution – the Compost Crank. It’s been successful in my garden and when the Compost Crank® team said they wanted to give away a free tool away during the holiday season I was all in for the freebee prize to go to one lucky gardener.
Below is a video that features the tool and shows how easy it is to use –
How to Win the Contest —
If you would like to win a Compost Crank®, simply leave a comment below giving your favorite tips on composting and/or a crazy story about your garden adventures.
THIS IS A ONE DAY CONTEST, so a random winner of a Compost Crank® will be selected and announced tomorrow morning on the blog post.
AND THE WINNER IS — The random number generator picked Michael Nolan from My Earth Garden as the winner. Congratulations Michael!
Composting is fun. I love to watch crazy people trying to make the ideal pile. People tell me how they sometimes take the pile apart and start over. These people probably garden in rows. When I feel like that I take a nap now.
I’ve tried worm composting as well as regular composting. Making the worms do the work of “turning” the pile seemed a clever idea, but I don’t have a good place to store the bin over the winter, so I need to start new weekend each spring …
We have a compost bin that gets filled up with yard waste and leftoverS from the kitchen. Our chickens are the best helpers for mixing up the compost pile. They climb in to see what scraps of food might be in there and turn the top layers over with their scratching. They leave their helpful deposits in there also!
The only compost story I have so far is years ago when I started a small pile in a corner of my backyard, my then husband wasn’t on board, so he picked it all up and threw it away! I would love this so that my boys and I can start composting – I love teaching them about gardening and being more self-sufficient. Thanks for the chance to win!
What a brilliant idea!
My composting tip takes us back to the very beginning – to the roots – of compost. The most important component in learning to make good compost is to alter your thinking and begin to see the soil as a living, breathing thing. Without the vibrant, thriving ecology of the soil, there is no way to get healthy plants. To test the theory, try growing a plant in pure clay, one in pure sand, and one in rich, dark compost. Only one of them has the texture, consistency, and nutrients required to sustain and nurture your garden.
Making small animals do the work of composting for you? Guinea Pigs to the rescue! A pair of cute cavies will devour pretty much all raw veggie kitchen scraps. Making a salad? The pigs will delight in eating the pepper core, the slightly ratty and bitter outer leaves of the lettuce, cucumber peels, green pea pods, and all the other things that get tossed out in the compost. They do their thing and the next thing you know it’s time to clean the cage. Actually cages need to be clean about once a week. For bedding, I use a combination of pine or aspen shavings and wood pellets, the kind used in wood burning stoves or for horse bedding. Some people use two to three inches of bedding. That’s way too much. I use about an inch of shavings mixed with 1-2 cups of pellets. When it’s good and gross, it gets dumped on the compost pile. It has the perfect ratio of carbon to nitrogen so it gets hot fast and breaks down quickly. The end product is super rich when going in the garden. Not to brag, but at our local community garden plot, my broccoli, for example is literally twice the size of anyone else’s. That’s why we had a special room built off the garage. Most people have guinea pigs for pets. Some breed them to take to guinea pig shows. At any given time, I have between 20 and 30 specifically for composting because I have to manage about 2 acres of gardens. Guinea pig composting.
Hi, I’m Jen, and I’m a drop it and leave it composter. I have five piles going right now, and one is super large! They are all hidden behind my garage. Maybe I should buy some worms. I can’t turn the big one. Maybe in 10 years it will all be broken down. ???? Maybe not!
Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!
My family has been composting since before I was born. At my grandmothers house a plastic milk jug sat beside the sink where we put scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells etc in the jug. Every night we’d take it to the pile next to the garden and “turn” it. I thought we were awfully strange back then since I didn’t know anyone else who did this strange ritual everyday! I’d love this compost crank so we can continue our family tradition ????
I am really bad at turning the compost, but more so because I am lazy. The great thing is that if you are lazy enough you still have great compost in the bottom of the bin eventually. Sometimes.
We have chickens who love to get in there and mix it up!! Would love to win!
I am relatively new to composting, but I have an Earth Machine composter for my kitchen scraps and some yard waste. I guess my tip would be- place the composter close enough to the back door so you can conveniently compost your kitchen scraps – even through the winter! I would love to win this tool do I don’t have to ask my husband to turn the compost!
Algae and seaweed are excellent additions to your compost pile!
Here’s a tip for sifting your compost: use an old milk crate, dump a couple shovel fulls of compost into the crate, shake the crate back and forth over a large bucket or a wheel barrow. All the big chunks stay in the crate while the fine stuff falls thru. Works very well and isn’t too cumbersome.
I have done worm composting for many years. Currently not doing them. We are burying all scraps in the garden, but this attracts animals. Dog got sprayed…need a bin.
Years ago I did a compost bin in a cooler with black trash bags. BasicLly storing all items in black trash bags inside the cooler, then turning the bags every so often. It worked great except the smell! It was on my garage and the poor cooler never smelled the same. The plants loved the “tea” it produced. Looking to upgrade the compost bin now 🙂
What a great composter! My tip is to add used coffee and espresso grinds from your local coffee shop. The worms will love it! Also, if you cold compost and/or don’t turn your pile that often, never put mint roots in the pile. I love mint, but it’s so invasive! Right Shawna? ????
Totally invasive my friend – good point!
I am really bad about turning the compost. Having something to make it easier would be great. We had tomato plants growing around our bin, as the seeds escaped
Hi I love it! My tip is to ad your egg shells to the compost.
Best regards from Denmark
My tip is to keep a scrap bucket handy in the kitchen so you’ll remember to compost and not just throw it away.
I got some chickens hoping that they will turn my compost and the trick but their poop is so hot that now I need a composter to age the whole thing before feeding it to my garden.
I still get to keep the chickens though ☺
I have a small yard with a small compost pile int the back corner. It was pretty much neglected except for being added to with yard work, didn’t really know what I was doing.But I was happily surprised when one day, needing some extra soil to pot a plant, I dug down and found some beautiful, rich soil! Having a composter would make it sooo much easier.
I would love to win. This is our first year with re-established compost bins at Gillette’s community garden and we may have had a little fire. . .or two.
I use my blendtec or vitamix to grind the veggie and fruit garbage to give the worms a break..sometimes I freeze it in bags till I can get it outside to the Composter. But I sadly never get the composter stirred…I also use the online recipe to make fertilizer with this blend, add a tsp of ammonia…and water…when I have time.
Looks like an easy solution to a common problem! I could definitely use this compost crank! I have found tha partially decomposed wood or chips allows for a speedier result in breaking down my table and grarden scraps. I like finding logs that have been on the ground for a couple of years and running them through the chipper. Good luck everyone! 🙂
Thanks so much for your tip!
I’ve never done worm composting and would really like to try it.
DUDE YOU WON! The random number generator picked your number. Congratulations!
I need chickens!!!
I’m always making everything droop over the sidewalks and my husband is always cutting it back — I totally get this. LOL!
Excellent advice and ideas!
I always struggle with turning, this is why I love the compost crank so much.
You were making garden gold!
I’ve never heard of the Earth Machine.
Excellent idea is you live near water.
Great tip!
Rotting smell is always bad, but I agree on the tea!
I get an occasional tomato too. 🙂
Thanks for the tip. ::waving to Denmark::
Good point — it’s easy to throw it in the garbage when we don’t have a constant reminder.
Rotting that manure first helps.
It works even when we forget about it, right?
I’m sorry you didn’t win, but I’ve been to Gillette’s community garden and at the times the bins were fairly overfilled. I’ll need to come back and check on progress.
This is an interesting idea. Much like I encourage people to mow over their grass clippings and leaves.
Chipper is an essential tool on a big property. Perfect for composting.
Congratulations to the winner. This is just an awesome tool. Lucky you won it Michael. 🙂