The Best Compost Tumblers For Your Garden This 2018
Summer is just around the corner. And when it’s hot outside, making very good batches of compost is easier, making it a brilliant idea to prepare them for your garden.
As such, I’ve rounded-up some of the best compost tumblers in the market today to prepare for your exciting garden adventures this summer. Some of these products have been in circulation for a very long time already. But that only testifies to their durability and how effectively they are in making compost for many people’s gardens already.
I like compost tumblers because in my opinion, they make compost faster than traditional compost bins. The rotating or “tumbling” motion both aerates the compost as well as mixes the mulch inside the bin for faster breaking down of organic material. There are other factors as well that contributes to faster composting with these tumblers, but let’s explore that further as we review each compost tumbler design separately.
Yimby Tumbler Composter
The Yimby Tumbler Composter has been around for a long time now and the number of satisfied customers for this product is a testament of how well it performs. Fast composting only entails you to turn the tumbler 5 to 6 times every 2 to 3 days. With all of the proper conditions met, you can end up with very good compost in as little as 2 weeks.
Last update on 2020-03-19 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Since this product comes in dual chambers, you can get double the compost within the same time that you usually only get 1 batch. If you’re cooking up 1 batch inside a chamber, it’s always best to put in fresh scraps on the second chamber to let the first one finish. As you finish each batch, you can rinse and repeat the process alternately, thus you end up with fresh compost every time.
Aeration is very important in composting as it makes it easier for the material to break down. This is because aeration brings more oxygen into the compost. This also keeps your composting process an aerobic one instead of an anaerobic process, which usually ends up with a smelly and messy compost product.
The Yimby Tumbler Composter is a very good overall product. Maybe this is the reason why it’s always part of any list whenever compost tumbler products are mentioned and ranked.
Miracle-Gro Single Chamber Outdoor Garden Compost Bin
If one of the selling points for the Yimby Tumbler Composter is its dual chambers, we are now going the opposite way with the Miracle-Gro Single Chamber Outdoor Garden Compost Bin. Yes, this product only has a single chamber, but sometimes, that’s a good thing, just because sometimes, that’s exactly what you really need.
Last update on 2020-03-19 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
The Miracle-Gro compost bin is designed to fit in the smallest of spaces. If you only have a small porch, or a balcony garden, or even a rooftop garden, big compost tumblers may not be advisable, unless you want to run out of garden space really fast. This compost tumbler is then perfect for such settings.
Aside of course on its aesthetic features, this compost tumbler works really well on the side of performance too. The bin is well aerated. And what we like best are the internal mixing bars that speed up the decomposition of organic material inside the bin. All in all, you’re expecting to produce compost within about 4 to 6 weeks, which is typically good time for compost to produce.
HOTFROG Dual Body Tumbling Composter
Going back to dual compost tumblers, the HOTFROG Dual Body Tumbler Composter is one that caught our attention because of its intuitive design. At first glance, it looks just like 2 tires put beside each other, but this design actually serves its purpose. The outside grooves are used for easy gripping and turning of the chambers. And each chamber rotates separately as well, as you schedule tumbling of your 2 batches of compost.
Last update on 2020-03-20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
The design of this product is also a good testament to its durability. The hard plastic of the chambers is made from BPA free UV inhibited recycled polyethylene. What that basically means is that the plastic won’t degrade a lot under direct sunlight. As you may already know, composting relies much on heat to work faster and more properly. So you need to put your composter under direct sunlight as much as possible. And too much heat and the cycling of cold nights battering your composter 24/7 can also quickly degrade the plastic.
Lifetime 60028 Compost Tumbler
The Lifetime 60028 Compost Tumbler easily lives on its namesake with its high density polyethylene plastic chamber and its powder-coated steel stand. But what really stands out at first glance is the weird shape of the single chamber compared to the other products we’ve featured so far.
Last update on 2020-03-20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
It’s a single compost tumbler chamber only, but it’s easy to notice that it’s also one big 65 gallon chamber that can process a lot of compost in it. Now back to the shape. The shape is actually an ingenious design that can easily turn on its axis and designed for balance rotation. The shape also provides a way for the lid to be extra-large for easier material loading. A spring-loaded pin locks the chamber in place when you’re putting material inside.
Another feature we liked is the double-walled panels inside the rotating chamber. As mentioned previously, heat is vital in making compost, that retaining it inside, cooking the material, is very important. The double walls in this product make sure that it absorbs heat efficiently and traps the heat inside to chamber for faster composting.
Envirocycle Compost Tumbler
For the last 4 products, we’ve been talking endlessly about the compost end-product that was cooked up for weeks inside the compost tumblers. But other than this, there’s another by-product of compost bins that can be beneficially used for your gardening efforts. By this, I’m talking about compost tea – or the organic juice that drips down from your bin that is filled with nutrients that your plants will love.
Last update on 2020-03-19 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
The Envirocycle Compost Tumbler has a design that enables you to capture compost tea easily. As you can see from the design, the base of the product collects the juices so that after you’ve unloaded the bin, you can now easily take it off so that you can collect and utilize the compost tea in the base.
A few disadvantages though with the design is that some may say that it’s too low compared to compost tumblers with stands. But it also means easy shoveling in of material inside the drum. Its innovative design enables to compost faster as well as compared to the products above.
In conclusion, with these 5 options for compost tumblers, you can definitely choose what’s best for you and your garden’s needs. Dual compost bins will enable you to compost faster, but if space is a constraint and if your garden and composting needs are not that big, even a single bin design can serve you well.
