Making a Compost Tumbler -- I'll tumble for ya!

I can take absolutely no credit for the creation of this idea, only for making a post of step-by-step instructions. Anthony at The Compost Bin has a couple of posts about it and that's where I read about the Compost Tumbler; but, I wanted to post about how I did it.

So, I made a compost tumbler for less than $20--instead of paying $200 for a fancy one.

What you need:

A plastic garbage can with a lid

2 bungee cords

a drill

about a foot of screen typically used for windows
hot glue gun and glue

a hole-making drill bit

This is the one I used--2.5".

It was less than $10.

Step One: Cut a hole in that box! (People who get that SNL reference are LOLing now...)

So I drilled several holes in garbage can. These are necesary for aeration. (Optional: Take a utility knife and "clean-up" the edges of the circles.) These don't have to be circles, I just thought this was the easiest since they have a circle-making drill bit.

Step Two: Cut the screen in large enough pieces to cover the holes.

I just used a pair of my rusty garden shears and made the square large enough to overlap about 1/2 an inch.

*If you have a great hardware guy like my Vince at Ace, see if they will sell you just a foot from the screen they use to repair window screens. I got mine for about $1.25--much less than the $10 I would have paid for several feet of screen in the roll (that I will never use.)

Step Three: Cover the holes.

I used my hot glue gun with normal glue. I found the best way was to place the screen on the hole on the inside, then to glue around the circle.

Step Four: Put in your favorite goodies that are ready to composted!

Important to note--be sure you buy bungee cords that fit over the top of the trash can...you don't want you compost to spill out when you tumble it.

I tumble (read: kick around) mine every 3 days or so. I'll update you on when I have wonderful "black gold."

Here is the finished product before going outside (Yes, I did this project inside. It was raining so I just put down a sheet in the kitchen.)