Enter To Win A Spin Bin Compost Tumbler

Wow! I'd love to have one of those tumblers! Sure would be a lot easier than the huge bin I currently have that I look at and wonder how I'm going to get all the compost out of.

I started my own garden because I wanted my granddaughter to see where food really came from. To go right out the back door and pick her own strawberries and tomatoes. I also wanted to grow my own organic food and have a part in the food I eat other than just going to Whole Foods twice a week.

My inspiration for learning about how to garden in Arizona came from Greg at http://www.urbanfarm.org but Mike is who really kicked me off the couch to finally get going. I mean, if a guy in NYC can grow a salad on his fire escape, why couldn't I do it in my backyard?

Keep up the good work!

I consider you my go-to guy for awesome and unique ideas regarding the garden and food. I love your posts, they make me laugh sometimes, and other time the make me hopeful. I don't want to win the tumbler, I have a compost bin already! Good luck to everyone else.

LOVE your site – it's inspiring to me as an 'urban gardener'. Your site, among other things, have helped me realize it can be done in small spaces. I'm proud to feel like I'm making an impact on the environment by growing at least some of my own food. I've currently got growing: potatoes, garlic (?- no clue if this is going to work…), onions, lettuce, radishes, basil, dill, tomatoes, 3 kinds of peppers, and more! All in containers – except a couple tomato plants in the ground.

Food is some of our best medicine. Plants are incredible allies on so many levels, it's such an honor to bring them closer to heart and home!

Kristie

Oooo pick me pick me! It would be so much easier to have this tumbler near my raised beds by the house than having to walk the 50 yards to my current compost bin!

i just joined twitter and you were my first subscription, show some karma here…

Composting would be great, but the cost of buying a composter like this one is out of my budget. I would love to get this one and use to help with our landscaping and reduce the waste going to our curb.

I would love a spin composter! How did you know?

Artoo!

Sorry for short previous comment – it just looks so much like Artoo! We planted our very first garden (in containers for now, since our soil is so bad), and are looking for a composter so that we can improve our lawn and plant vegetables in the ground.

It's tricky to mix the compost in my current composter and it's getting full! I could use a back-up… STAT! Oh, and this is year 3 for me and my urban garden in Somerville, MA. This year, I have a ton of tomato plants, which I can't wait to can later this summer! I've also got zucchini, yellow squash, and acorn squash, celery, escarole, beets, romaine, onions, corn, beans, cucumbers, bell peppers, hot peppers, and more! I keep these herbs in pots on my front steps: basil, parsley, Thai basil, rosemary, purple sage, oregano, mint, thyme, chamomile, chives, garlic chives… I think that's it!

I have to admit, I cheat. I have summer berries in the winter, thanks to my trusty Aerogarden. But your wild and entertaining posts have inspired me to stick my green thumb into the dirt. To dig, plant, grow and battle my groundhogs for the harvest. Luckily, they don't have opposable thumbs, so should I win this awesome compost spin, my banana peels should be safe…I hope.

Rock on you good green being, what a great contest!!!

I constantly have crows all over my compost heap in my yard, and now they're nibbling my not-yet-ripe strawberries too– so I'm thinking this bin could help me! In the meantime I've set up a scarecrow made from a dressmaker's form, dressed in a raincoat and hat. It looks menacing.

I just started gardening at a new house, leaving behind my old hand built compost pile that needed shovel turning at the old place. I like this one! I'm working on container plants this year, just tomatoes and herbs, but you gotta start somewhere! Naturally, I will expand next year.

hello, I would love to be considered for the compost tumbler. I am so glad to have “found” your site through The Good Human. You are an inspiration, and I also enjoy your sense of humor. Thank you for the opportunity to be considered for this cool tumbler. You're in gardening…

Always up for a freebie:) Actually have several, including a roller one in construction (same stirring intent) made from an old dryer drum.

Besides helping me start my first compost bin with all your tips,, videos and personell IM´s to answer my questions about composting, this bin would be an added plus to a lifestyle started with this page and YoUR help. I need not even mention the rejuvelac, wheatgrass, container garden help etc that we have shared……….geez, I sound sooo like a brown nose, but that´s the point right?

Too bad you can't ship to Hawaii! Just started a vegetable garden in paradise to offset cost of groceries. Good luck to all the entrants!

Everyone needs a home composting bin! I am moving to the mountains near my parents, and we plan to create our own little community of gardens. My home already has apple and pear trees. My mom's going to grow tomatoes and basil, I'm going to grow bell peppers, parsley, chives, and other herbs. What fun it will be to have fresh veggies, fruit, and herbs all summer long!!

what a great giveaway! i've been attempting an organic container vegetable garden every summer for the last three years, and have had some success, but not the bountiful harvest i always dream of.. your blog inspires me to keep at it – thank you!

I'm starting our garden to grow some fresh tomatoes and blackberries (and greens, peas, etc.). I love a lot of fruit and veggies but they can be so expensive at the store!

Ohhhhhh! What a beauty she is! All shiny and new just looking for a wonderful new home! I have a wonderful spot already picked out for her! She would be such a good companion for my raised planting beds, container gardens and flowers! I'd say she needs a one way ticket down South! Way, way down south to Fairhope, Alabama where she can fill her belly full of yummy, nutritious goodies for many years to come! I've already named her: Spindee! Can you hear all my veggies and flowers calling her name?? Come on down Spindee! The weather is awesome and we are waiting for you! So pack her up, Mike, with your tender loving hands and kiss Spindee goodbye!

The kids of ours have loved watching the plants grow. They enjoy dropping in the seeds. I bet they would love to tumble that thing.

This year I am getting a bit more adventurous. Past few year I have grown some herbs this year I have cucumbers, bell peppers, jalapenos, banana peppers, loofah, and strawberries all on my apartment patio. I think I might be covered in vines from the loofah and cucumbers soon but it will be worth it. Already harvested a few delicious strawberries can't wait for the rest of the stuff to start producing.

I'm just a farmgirl at heart – living on sand and clay ground, I need all the help I can get to create a decent garden, that will produce bounties of tomatoes, zucchini, squash, peppers, rhubarb, carrots, onions and anything else that would go into a salsa.

Ohhhh My Balcony & Kinda weak plants realllllly need one of these
!!!

xo-L

My dad build us a three compartment box for composting, it has seen better days. There is nothing like going out into your veggie garden and picking your dinner!

After using an open bin for several years, I recently switched to one of the “Tumbleweed” tumblers. You really need more than one so you can separate the “new”, partially broken down, and ready to use material. Other than expense, I strongly recommend them (and hope to win this one.) I enjoy your unique approach to familiar projects and read your blog regularly.

In spring of '09 I kept walking by seed and other gardening displays and for some reason they kept grabbing my attention. I'd given up on gardening after killing several plants in a row several years before that, but I kept getting the nagging urge to try again. There were several stress factors going on in my life and I think I was looking for a new stress outlet.
For some reason I picked up seeds for jellybean tomatos, red chrysanthemums and berry scabiosas (I can't remember anymore why those three). Later I also took up a California wildflower seed mix. I had modest success with each type of seed. They mostly went into old containers my sister had abandoned at the family house, and I picked up a few free givaways. Somehow it evolved into convincing my dad to let me dig up a new flower bed in an unused corner of the yard that received the wildflowers and a few ornamentals I found at the nursery.
At some point I was so happy with the little tomatos that I wanted to grow all kinds of food too. The next ones were bunching onions and carrots in another unused flower bed I took over. Somehow while searching gardening info online I stumbled on LifeontheBalcony.com and a whole new world followed from there… From the beginning I did not want to use any pesticides on my green children which has been a continual struggle between my dad and I. I found out more and more about organic methods and locally grown food benefits which sent me hunting out more food plants that are suited to my area.
I now have a container garden in the backyard which is mostly dedicated to food plants (tomato, lettuce, chard, spinach, kale, herbs), I do scatter some ornamentals to attract pollinators and deter pests. I am having more successes than failures, but still learning alot as I go. This year I'm hoping to move on to organic fertilizers and start some sort of composting system. I also grow lots of flowers in the front yard for my parents. I helped my parents plan new landscaping in the front which has cut down on the square feet of lawn and brought in less water-needy plants.
I have also partnered up with a close friend of mine who had tried for several years to grow his own tomatos at his old apartment. In his new place he has a much better planting area and I have been helping him pick out other plants which will be useful to him. We scheme on gardening alot now. A couple of other friends are also interested in starting their own little gardens and I think others will join in too.
I tend my plants everyday now and really enjoy them, they've turned out to be such a stress reliever! I just feel grateful all the time that I gave gardening another shot, it's something that I know is going to stay with me.

I want to start composting & this would help so much!

I decided to start my garden (just got some half barrels off craigslist and will plant this weekend) because I joined a CSA and realized how amazing it is to eat seasonally. I've never really thought much about the fact that I could get all fruits and veggies year round. Now I know how tasteless supermarket veggies can be. I am also very interested in getting a compost but I have a very finite amount of space (personal balcony) so this would help immensely!

I got a late start on my garden this year but it's finally up and running. I scored 20 buckets and have tomatoes, hot peppers, sweet peppers, bell peppers, cabbage, spinach, blackberries, blueberries, celery, and lots of herbs. One tomato plant isn't looking too hot though and I'm not sure why but the other is great! My current compost bin is just another 5 gallon bucket since I'm not allowed to have my regular kind on the dirt here but a Spin Bin would work nicely Since we only eat raw food and are a family of 4, we make a LOT of compost so we shall have some fiiiine dirt this year!
Peace,
Shan

this would be so perfect for me! I have always wanted to compost, but since we're renters I want something i could take with us the next time we move.

I've been haunted by the smell and taste of freshly picked vegetables from my Grandma's garden for years but did nothing to start my own garden untill one day about two years ago shopping at HEB with my children they asked what does ORGANIC mean ……. then I thought it wouldn't be better to explain it to them but to show HOW to grow our own “produce isle” in our back yard. So last year we started with PIZZA GARDEN for the kids and 2 raised beds for mama. When my daughter, age 6 at that time, got her first radishes and my son, 4, found out that peas are hiding in a pod – I could not express how excited they were to have their OWN ORGANIC GARDEN. They also planted some carrots, lettuce, cukes in their pizza garden and they all produced very well. I was really impressed with cherry tomatoes and cucumbers growing in my raised beds. So this year we started our garden earlier (in late January for South Texas) and made more raised beds. We've had radishes, carrots, lettuce (we even collected our own seeds from one), peas, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, beets, green onion, parsley, dill, watermelons. Started our composting as well in 5 gal buckets which didn't really go well at first but I think is picking up now…

I love your blog. It was among the inspirations for me to start my own container gardening, which I document (among other things) on my own blog about my domestic efforts. I live in Philly and don't have the land to start a in ground compost bin. I started a worm bin, but like yours, my worms seem to be dying. I'd love to try a tumbler.

I am inspired by my grandfather to garden. He used to have a huge garden that grew everything. Even when they moved to a condo, he grew tomatoes in pots that towered well over everyone's heads. I try to eat organically. So this year, I decided to do some herbs and veggies of my own. I've got tomatoes, red bell peppers, eggplant, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, spinach, strawberries, a few herbs, and a meyer lemon tree all in pots on my small apartment balcony! It will definitely be a fun learning adventure this summer. This composter would be the perfect addition to what I'm trying to accomplish. If it won't fit amongst my plants, I could stash it at my parents and save my scraps for when I visit.

I hope I win, I really want this composter. I started to garden because of the love of gardening was planted in me at an early age by my mother and grandmother.

I'm already a composter and know how beneficial composting is for my garden/flower beds and yard not to mention how great it is for the enviroment! I current just have a compost”pile” next to the garden & I know it would be sooo much quicker to maintain & add to the Compost Tumbler=) Besides, you can never have too much compost, right? =)
Thanks so much for a chance!
Lethea B

I'd love to win the compost tumbler firstly to avoid having to dig an unsightly hole as a for a make shift compost bin and secondly because for a change this compost tumbler actually looks great. In the last few months, my wife and I have started down the path of slowly reducing the amount of lawn area we have, which is a lot, and bit by bit moving toward the path of natural pest control and fertilization for any new plants or vegetables we plant. The two things that we've got growing now include a thriving herb garden and a new grape tree. Our plans are to slowly expand to cover more greens.

Haha. Love it Cindy. Thanks for the comment.

Nice. I used to live in Philly myself. Went to Drexel then lived in the East Falls/Roxborough/Manayunk area.

Like to hear that you are reducing the amount of lawn. Seems to be the trend lately.

Having too much compost would be a good problem to have.

My grandmother used to keep a small garden as well, but never really got involved in it with her.

Nice. I've been contemplating getting a meyer lemon tree for my balcony as well. My concern is that it doesn't get enough sunlight.

I lived in Philly for a while. Went to school at Drexel, then lived in the East Falls/Roxborough/Manayunk area before moving back to NYC. Since I've gotten that Worm Factory 360, the worms have been doin well and plowing through the food scraps.

Straight and to the point. I like it.

Nice man. Composting just make sense. What happened years about before garbage was collected?

I am definitely a veggie snob as well.

You could also build your own composter easily as well.

Thanks for sharing your story. I appreciate it. Glad that you didn't let your initial mishaps keep you away. Keep growin girl

I hear Rebecca. Preach on girl. Preach on.

The mistakes are just as important as the successes.

Like the catch all of “anything else that would go into salsa.”

Nice. Def wanna do some strawberries and other berries next year.

What kid doesn't love to play with their food?

Yes it's amazing how all of these things go together and play off of each other.

Thanks. I'm still hoping for that bountiful harvest as well.

Good luck creating that community. Keep me updated.

I'm sure you can grow lots of them tropical fruits in Hawaii. I've heard that you can grow pineapple out of the top part of a pineapple.

You shouldn't have, but do please keep on goin

I've been hearing more about these roller composters.

Thanks Jacque. Just tryin to make this fun and enjoyable for myself (and others).

Starting is always the most difficult part.

You should totally sell your scarecrows.

Once those groundhogs evolve and get opposable thumbs, what are you going to do?

Damned. Sounds like you got lots goin on. Likin it.

Sounds like you know what you are doing.

Your son told me

You could also build a low budget one as well.

You should stop your subscriptions at me. Ain't nothin gonna compare

Build another closer compost bin!

Well stated. We are all intertwined.

Nice. You got more growing than I do!

Wow. Thanks for the comment and kind words. Glad that I could bring a smile to your world in some form.

Thanks. Greg is good people. I've spoken with him before.

hey Mike, first time viewer, fellow gardener here… amazing information! good to know that there are other people out there taking direct action in cultivating their own gardens. I look forward to reading about more of your in/outdoor gardening and will definitely take part in raising a garden for myself as well as to inspire others!

Compost is grand, I'd like to spread compost across my land.

I'd love to start composting. Just getting into gardening after having bought our first 'real' house!

I'm so excited that this year we have planted some fruits and veggies along with many rose bushes and gorgeous trees. Our back yard has become our oasis, and I love it. I've been reading about composters as I would really like to start composting, which led me to your great site. Thank you so much for the lovely giveaway.