New composter

I picked up an Earth Machine composter cheaply from my county recycling center and set it up today. I shoveled the contents of my failed trash can tumbler into it. I have neglected the tumbler for a month or so now, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a bit of steam coming off the contents. The bottom of the can was a bit gross and slimy since there were no drainage holes there, and the whole thing smells a bit. I think I have too much "green" and not enough "brown" in there right now. I'll try to remedy that over the next couple days.

You can see just beyond the compost bin is a small creek. Our property actually extends to the other side, but the concrete bridge that connected the two banks washed away 6 months after we moved in. We've been trying to come up with some way to make a bridge so we can access that side again, but the span is about 19 ft -- hard to find treated beams that long. We'd love to plant a few additional beds there to grow some of the things that can get out of hand like squash, pumpkins, watermelon, etc. Would love to build a legit 3-bin compost pile there also. If anyone out there knows where to get 22-ft long treated 8x8's (or maybe a couple old utility poles) in central NJ, let me know!

Onions & Compost

My four squares of Yellow Onions I planted from sets on 3/13 are doing well. Nearly all of them have sprouted now.

In the fall, I built a "tumbling" compost bin from instructions I found online. It's a 32 gallon trash bin with holes cut in the sides covered with window screen. Unfortunately, it has a few problems. One is - I should have drilled lots of small holes for aeration rather than the large, screen-covered ones. The screen has peeled off a number of them and there's no good way to reattach. Also, the lid is too flimsy and won't stay on well when tumbling it. I think I'm just going to invert the can, cut out the bottom and use it as a regular compost enclosure for now.