Garden Gourmet Composter Review

Composting bins are a great solution for many gardeners who want to be able to create a sizable amount of compost in a small area, and who don’t want to fuss with building dedicated compost piles with wood boards, timbers, and nails. The Garden Gourmet Composter is an excellent option for those looking for a simple, convenient, ground-based compost system, and many gardeners will find it to be quite useful. Made from 100% recycled materials and designed with ultra-simple assembly, the Garden Gourmet can hold up to 82 Gallons of Compost. Throw your compost materials in the top, stir it around a bit, and after some time, fresh compost will be available at the bottom opening.

It’s a clever system, and we look at the Garden Gourmet in detail below.

Composting kitchen scraps can be a challenge to amateur gardeners. Many have open composting beds, where food scraps, and other organic materials slowly rot. With luck you get compost, but often times rodents, bees, ticks, and other pests ruin your compost and your day!

Vermicomposting — using worms and other microorganisms to process compost — through an open bottom bin such as the Garden Gourmet Plastic Bin is an effective method of compost. It can replace large open compost beds, and keep everything contained.

This article examines Garden Gourmet 82 Gallon Recycled Plastic Compost Bin, its key features, specs, and gardeners’ best practices, and reviews it.

Garden Gourmet 82 Gallon Compost Bin Review

Designed with an open bottom, the Garden Gourmet Plastic Bin allows the humus to settle down at the bottom for a direct contact with the ground soil. This system is called vermicomposting, or vermicomposting, and it is designed to encourage worms and microorganisms to process the organic waste inside the bin and to leave castings which become good natural fertilizers.

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Garden Gourmet Composter Basic Specs:

• Constructed from 100% recycled, UV-resistant polyethylene panels
• Multiple access panels and sliding bottom exit door
• Adjustable air vents
• Simple, hassle-free assembly
• Includes users guide

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Dimensions and Capacities

• Product Dimensions: 23″ x 23″ x 40″
• Shipping Weight: 39 pounds
• Compost Capacity: 82 Gallons

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The Details

Open vermicomposting can be messy, smelly, and can take up a large footprint. But with the use of a bin like the Garden Gourmet, you can have a neat and clean vermicomposting. The Garden Gourmet is capable of producing a good amount of compost, given its 82-gallon capacity, which is great for small to medium sized gardens.

Additionally, we quite like that the Garden Gourmet composter has a hassle-free assembly. In less than 10 mins you have your bin ready for action. No screws, no drills. Some of the other composters have complex, involved assembly, and the Garden Gourmet is just about the easiest one out there.

Aesthetics

The Garden Gourmet is a simple design, and much more attractive than similarly-designed compost bins like the Redmon Compost Bin. It’s not going to be a focal feature in your garden, but it probably won’t stand out if it’s tucked away in a corner.

The finish is a simple black plastic exterior, with helpful images placed on the access panels. These images which show which materials should go where, and which should be excluded from the bin altogether.

The Garden Gourmet Compost Bin doesn’t require any screws to hold it together, so there are no concerns about rust stains here.

Functionality

This product, which produces 82 gallons of rich dark humus, is surprisingly large. It’s great for medium to large beds. Due to its large capacity, producing a rich fertilizer can take roughly 3-6 months, depending on the ambient conditions, and provided that you mix the compost once a week.

You can easily remove the upper cover for mixing the compost using a shovel or pitchfork.

Open-Bottom Design

Good bacteria and worms are rich in the ground soil. Because the Garden Gourmet has an open-bottom design, these organisms sip into the humus, producing a dark, rich and healthy compost. The design also saves you time by allowing gravity to do its job, which translates into less mixing.

Adding Fresh Materials and Removing Compost

Adding new scraps and removing the finished product is easily accomplished through the Garden Gourmet’s two upper access panels and a third sliding panel at the bottom for removing finished compost. With helpful illustrations carved on the panels, users can easily identify which scraps to put where.

It is best to avoid putting fresh meat, fish, dairy products, and other animal fats into the bin. Additionally, stay aware of the ratio between wet and dry substances, and of the amount of carbon in the bin.

This is all fully explained with the included user-friendly manual. The manual covers best practices, tips and tricks, and details of the composting process.

Ventilation

In order to tailor the Garden Gourmet composter to its environment, the bin comes with adjustable air vents. If more aeration is needed, one can open the access panels and the bottom exit panel, but this also means that rodents and insects can get in as well.

Regular mixing for at least once a week can help speed things along.

Installation and Assembly

Constructed of interlocking plastic panels, the Garden Gourmet can be assembled in less than 10 minutes with no drills or screws. The bin is large, so its best to assemble it near the location you plan on keeping it.

Keep in mind the Garden Gourmet bin needs direct contact with raw soil to work properly. If you try to put it on the patio or the deck, you won’t have much success with composting!

Cleaning and Maintenance

Since the panels are held together with click-locks, significant pressure can dislodge the panels or break the bin. It’s best to avoid over-filling the bin. Also, avoid banging it too much to remove dirt that sticks on the panels, as you can shatter the panels. If you want to clean it, disassemble the panels and then hose them off before re-assembling.

Also, keep the openings closed whenever possible to avoid rodent invasion. And as we all know, those critters can be clever, so you may still have rodent troubles. For a completely rodent-free compost experience, you’ll want to head over to a rodent-proof compost tumbler.

Accessories

The most important accessory to the Garden Gourmet is the composting guide, which is included with the Garden Gourmet. If you want to get a better sense of your compost progress, you could consider picking up a compost thermometer, though it’s not mandatory. Additionally, you may want to pick up some compost accelerator to get things rolling.

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The Bottom Line

The Garden Gourmet is a great choice for a ground-based composter for many garden situations. The ease of use, simple assembly, nondescript design, and reasonably aggressive price make it a good choice for many. When you have loads of kitchen waste and scraps, no need to worry, the Garden Gourmet will take them!

Source: Suppleplant