1. Composting is a process in which certain types of food matter - fruit rinds, vegetable stalks, leafy greens, etc. - are mixed with healthy yard waste to create nutrient rich soil (or, in the composting parlance, "black gold").
2. A compost bin requires contents to be manually turned, while a compost tumbler offers a hand-crank to mix contents.
3. A SoilSaver compost bin offers a more hands-on approach to composting - owners can find a bit of therapy and exercise tending their compost.
4. Compost towers provide busy homeowners the opportunity to compost without the commitment required to tend a tumbleweed composter. The hand-crank mixing process takes just a few minutes.
5. Typically, a worm composter has a built-in compost "tea" collector, which catches this runoff from compost materials. Tea collectors may have to be purchased separately for compost tumblers.
6. Organic matter is essential to creating healthy, usable compost in a kitchen compost bin - most of what you need you can find in your own kitchen.
7. Usable food scraps include fruit rinds, leafy greens (such as lettuce) and vegetable stalks.
8. Coffee grounds are excellent compost additives because they create heat in the compost pile.
9. Never add meat or dairy products, including bones, to your compost pile. The fats and oils will attract animals and pests, and they'll cause an unsavory odor.
10. Round out your compost pile with nitrogen-rich grass clippings, leaves, and non-diseased weeds and plant remnants.