If you’re a gardener of any skill level, you have probably used compost or soil at some point. These things are necessary in the garden for delivering proper nutrients to your plants. Besides sunlight and water, plants need the proper balance of nutrients in their soil. Many times the ground in your backyard just doesn’t have this essential balance initially. After tilling, compost should be worked into the ground to get your plants off to a healthy start. If you skip this critical step, you can end up wasting a lot of money and time on plants that are destined to wither away. Compost can be expensive when purchased at the home improvement store, but there is a way to make it yourself at home.
After a modest initial investment, you can have a spinning compost bin in your home. Personally, I like the Achla model CMP-05. Dead plant material from your yard is placed into the unit as you collect it. Moisture and aeration should be promoted inside the bin. Most open-top composters require you to take a shovel and mix the compost around. Instead of doing this manual labor, the Achla spinning composter is designed to be tumbled using a handle on the side, no shoveling necessary. The tumbling is done to provide aeration so the decomposition process can be fully completed. If the compost is incomplete, you will notice that pieces of leaves and grass will still remain in the bucket.
The Achla compost bin is made up of recycled plastic, so it’s environmentally friendly even before you start saving your food scraps from the landfill. Ridges inside the bin help to break up large clumps of material so you end up with an evenly decomposed product. Seven cubic feet of debris can be placed inside the unit. This includes leaves, grass, dead plants, and even food from your kitchen. When not in use, it should be placed in a safe environment such as rubbermaid sheds.