a two chambered tumbling compositor for
all your composting needs let's look at
the mr. spin twin chamber tumbling
composter
so in our popular video on composting
that we posted earlier we showed you how
easy it is to set up your own composting
bin and in today's episode we'll take it
a step further and show you how to set
up a tumbling composting bin we got our
two chamber tumbling composter from
Costco and we also got a compost
thermometer from Cate's garden on Amazon
both are great products and I'll provide
links to these products in the video
description below now let's begin by
unboxing our package our composting
tumbler came neatly packaged in this box
and this is basically the separator that
separates the two chambers in the
composting bin and then there are a lot
of steel units that serve as stands for
the composter
and you can see that we have a lot of
these connectors and I will shortly show
you how to get these connectors together
and here you can see we have all the
sides of the composter as you can see
here all the parts that are needed to
assemble this composter these are the
sides and these are actually the the
plastic sides that will go on to making
the compost bin and then there are some
sort of nuts and bolts that you'll be
able to assemble the unit with
now let's begin with the assembly you
need to first assemble the door as you
can see here this is actually the door
of the composter it has a sliding door
which will easily fit on to the side as
you can see here and once you figure out
where to fix the sides and they align
with the holes for the nuts and what you
do is just insert the nuts and tighten
them using the bolts the manual mentions
that all these should be tightened very
well
now you can either hand tighten them now
and then tighten them later with a
screwdriver and a set of pliers or you
can just do it right now while you're
assembling the parts you can just
make sure that the screws are tightened
using a screwdriver and a set of pliers
I found it very easy to use a set of
pliers to tighten the screws as you can
see here just hold the screwdriver from
one side it is a standard Phillips
screwdriver and then just hold a long
nose plier and make sure that you are
tightening the screws properly
now it's time to set the other side of
the composting bin this is basically a
circular tumbling composter and it has
two chambers and then all you need to do
is just hold on to the other side as
well and then tighten the screws
as you can see here we have now
assembled the door and it's now time to
tighten the nuts and then move on to
assembling the other sides as you can
see here we have the door assembly in
place and one of the sides installed as
well and here I'm going to show you how
to install the other sides and the piece
just slides into the piece that you just
assembled and once the piece slides in
all you need to do is attach the nuts
and then tighten it with the bolts from
the bottom
so the entire assembly is based on a
nuts-and-bolts I know
and all you need to do is assemble the
pieces and then put in the knots and
then tighten it with the bolts from the
bottom
the separator is a hexagon-shaped
separator that will separate the two
chambers of the compositing bin and as
you can see here it's a little tricky to
set it into place
but once you set it into place all you
need to do is continue adding the other
pieces of your composting bin and they
will then align with this separator very
easily
as you can see here the separator is now
in place and you can now slide the other
piece to the piece that you just
installed and align the separator so
that it aligns with the new piece that
you are installing
and then as usual you take the nuts and
then push them through the slots and
then tighten them with the bolts that
you have and as you can see here we are
now continuing to install the other
parts as well on the sides and all these
sides make up your composting bin and
they just align with each other and you
keep adding the pieces till you have no
more pieces left
and making sure you add the nuts and the
bolts at every stage as you can see here
after you have installed all the sides
your compositor should look something
like this with the two doors giving you
access to complete the last nuts and
bolts that are left and once that's done
your compositor should look something
like the one you see here and then you
need to slide in the support shaft
through the compositor and you have to
first open the door try to align it on
one side and then move over to the other
side and then open the door and then try
to push it through the hole on the other
side and once that's done this actually
forms the tumbling base for your
composter and it's a pretty simple
design all the composter does is it
rotates on this shaft that you see here
and these are the sides the stands that
will hold your composter
so it only aligns one way so make sure
that you are aligning the stand such
that your composter can actually set on
the stands
it should look like as you can see here
will be now attaching our final piece to
complete the assembly and they just
slide into each other and lock into
place so it's pretty easy to set these
up
and finally we're going to be setting
our composting bin on top of this stand
and as you can see here it just fits
very easily onto the stand
and it's not secure yet we are going to
be securing these with additional nuts
and bolts on the sides so what you do is
just take the nut and then tighten it
with the bolt on the side of the shaft
that attaches to the stand
and do the same thing on the other side
as well
I'm holding a wrench in place to tighten
the bolt here
and you need to do the same thing on the
other side as well
and now you can start loading up your
composting bin as you can see here there
are two chambers and whatever surprised
to see was that this composter holds a
lot of material you can start filling up
one side and once you're about 3/4 full
you can stop and then start filling the
other side here you can see I have some
worms that I'm gonna add to the
composting bin as well they do a great
job and composting your kitchen scraps
this chamber the first chamber is going
to contain some scraps and some compost
that is not completed yet
and I'm gonna let this cook for about
two to three weeks and this is how the
composting tumbler works you basically
can rotate this composting bin and the
material gets mixed thoroughly it's also
exposed to air and this really speeds up
the composting process so instead of
having holes in the composting bin there
are actually some holes here not very
visible the tumbling action is what
causes this combustor to compost waste
very quickly now once you are done with
one side you can switch over to the
other side start adding kitchen scraps
and a gentle rule of thumb is that for
every part of that waste that you add
now wet waste could be like kitchen
scraps things that you see here
leftover vegetables and peels you need
to add about two times carbon source now
a carbon source could be something like
dried leaves as you can see here we have
a lot of dried leaves that we collected
from under our trees and this is carbon
waste that can be added to your compost
bin and for every one part of green
waste add two parts of dry waste as you
see here and this is very important for
your composting process and every time
you add some scraps you need to make
sure that you're tumbling the compost
mixing it well as you can see here now
let's look at how to remove compost
that's already made in the composter and
as you can see here this is compost that
is not 100% ready but I'm still removing
it so that I can add it to my raised
beds now the easiest way to remove the
compost is to lay a tarp below the
composter and then shake the composter
till the compost comes out as you can
see here
the compost is looking quite good and
your compost should not be smelly it
should have a nice earthy smell but not
like smelling foul
as long as you add your waste correctly
and as long as you're keeping your
composure aerated which means that you
are tumbling at every few days your
compost should be very nice not too
smelly and not too moist as well as you
can see here this is pretty much how
your compost should look like and it
should be a little more finish than this
I'm just removing it earlier so that I
can add it to my raised beds and here
you can see the chamber is empty now
while we emptied one chamber the other
chamber is still cooking so that's the
best part of this composter you can
still make compost while you are using
the compost from one chamber
and all we're going to do is add it to
our raised bed and then spread it around
our raised bed
now you can either leave it this way or
what I like to do is I like to dig it in
to my raised bed so that it gets mixed
with the contents of the raised bed the
native soil as well as some soil that
was existing in the raised bed and
that's always good because it lets your
compost get into the deeper parts of the
soil and I usually do this with the
compost that I add to my raised bed and
you're gonna see a lot of earthworms a
lot of other insects in your compost and
that's always a good sign you want your
soil to be full of life now one of the
problems that everyone faces is how do
you get a lot of dry waste or carbon
source for your composting bin we all
have a lot of wet waste from our kitchen
scraps but how do you get a lot of
carbon source or dry waste well I have a
little trick for you just use your
kitchen scraps your wet waste and then
dry it in the Sun in an aluminum foil as
you can see here and once this dries it
actually becomes a carbon source or dry
waste now this might not give you a lot
of dry waste but if you have grass
clippings you can just lay them in a
tarp and then dry it in the Sun you can
also rake dried leaves from under your
trees and I usually use a leaf mulcher
to pick up my leaves and then I lay it
on a tarp and that gives me a lot of
carbon source or driveways for my
compost
and the next product that's very useful
for your composting needs is this
compost thermometer from Cate's garden
now I'm not associated with this company
this is just an honest review of the
product and I thought this would be
definitely useful for your composting
needs because it lets you view the
temperature for your compost bin and as
you can see here it's very neatly
packaged and it has a little guide on
the back which tells you what your
compost temperature should be while you
are composting and as you can see here
your compost can either be warm it can
be active or it can be hot and there's a
little coupon inside as well for your
next purchase it looks like a great
quality product very well-built and
solid construction and what I really
liked about the product was the ease in
which it can be used for your compost
temperature measurement it has this dial
that has very intuitive easy-to-read
colors which tell you how your compost
is doing so the thermometer itself has
this long thermometer base and then this
dial as you can see here the dial is
pretty intuitive it has these colors
dark green meaning your compost is hot
light green means it's active and then
you need to make sure that your compost
is at least in the light green or
preferably the dark green area so when
your compost is hot composting it will
compost very quickly and you won't have
a lot of harmful organisms in your
compost so the compost thermometer is a
great way to know if you're doing well
on how your compost ingredients are
now if your compost thermometer does not
indicate that you have an active compost
or a hot compost it usually means that
your proportion of wet waste to your dry
waste is not good so just make sure that
you are following the rule of one part
wet ways to two parts of dry waste and
you should be good
it's garden also has a very nice ebook
on composting and I'll provide a link to
the e-book on my website and I will
provide a link to that below in the
video description as well if you want
more tips on composting please do check
out our video on composting that we
posted earlier we have a lot of details
on what needs to go into your composting
ban and what does not so that's a very
helpful guide that you should see so
there we have it folks that was our
episode on composting and how you can
use a tumbling composter along with a
compost thermometer to get the best
compost that you can if you like this
video do put in a comment below if
you're already using this composter do
let us know how you find it we'll see
you again soon happy gardening