I recently moved to a new house with a small corner lot, so its fairly open on 3 sides. I am looking for a small composting unit that is both good and unobtrusive. I see there are several hundred styles one can buy. Any one have any recommendations? Would prefer small unit with bottom as I'll likely put it on a gravel base.

I find those units to be too small to be useful, and they're generally very expensive. Instead, I'd suggest finding a large plastic barrel and drill holes into the side, and depositing your compostable waste in there. It will need to be turned and probably the easiest way is to have a second barrel with holes to turn it into. For a while I was using some bins with lids from Home Depot (about $13 a piece) and holes drilled in the bottom, but I had too much kitchen waste alone to use those.

Another option is to find one of those heavy-duty plastic or durable wood corrals to set on the ground, and another one beside it for when you have to turn the compost. Simply use your spade fork and move it from one corral to the other when time to turn it comes. I have one in my back yard next to the regular compost pile; I use the corral for the kitchen waste that the dogs might get into, and every so often when it is broken down enough I turn it onto the top of the existing compost pile. My kitchen waste goes into a 5-gallon Home Depot bucket at the side door and when it fills, it goes into the corral, and from there, into the pile. But I have lots of space.

Compost has a smell that comes with it, so try to position your compost station as far from anyone's house or public area as you can.

Do you have a place to store the finished compost? Someplace to pile it? Or will it go directly into the garden?

This is just one suggestion - there isn't much activity in the Forum these days, but perhaps someone will come along with a review of a device that works for them.

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Northwesterner

I'm probably not needing all that much capacity, and can apply when ready to a bunch of new scrubs. In an old house I had a pretty large "heap" which was great, but I had the secluded spot for it. In another house, I had a large rotating barrel-type, but it didn't make anything decent.

I'm looking for something relatively unobtrusive, and have a decent area to set it fragrance-wise, but that's not that concealed. So a corral, wire enclosure, or modified trash can wont work out I'm afraid.

Thanks for your response.

There was one I saw demonstrated years ago that was a large tumbler, a large-capacity enclosed barrel (think of the size of some of the large round stock tanks, perhaps six feet diameter and three or four feet deep) that had an opening on the side to add new material. It had a large gear and a handle to simply rotate the entire bin every so often. This was at a city-sponsored recycle event in the 1990s so I don't know if those kinds of composters are still around, but if I were to buy one, that is what I would look for. I don't remember how the contents were emptied out, probably another door on the side. Whatever it was, it didn't strike me as difficult to use or maintain. It probably was expensive (goes without saying.)

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Northwesterner