Gardens

Compost Crank

Screw composting

I discovered the compost crank about three years ago when I switched from the previously reviewed compost tumbler to compost bins. For those who don’t know, unless you are willing to wait years for finished compost, you need to get oxygen and moisture to the microbes that rot or break down the plant materials. And so you have to aerate the pile of materials by turning it.

I had used devices, purchased from the big box stores, that have wings on the end of a metal shaft with a handle. The theory is that you plunge the metal shaft into the pile and the wings open up as you pull outward allowing you to lift the organic material. The problem with that is that it turns out to be a back-breaking aerobic workout.

Instead, the compost crank is like a great big version of an old fashion hand drill. You just crank or drill the end of the shaft (the end looks like a metal pig’s tail) and then lift or pull upward which comparatively is exponentially easier than all of the other methods I have tried. How did it change my life? Well I’m fifty-eight and it probably saved me from a coronary attack!

— Eugene Pummill

I’ve used the Compost Crank for about 1 1/2 years. This lightweight, over-sized corkscrew allows you to get deep down to the bottom of your compost where no garden fork or spade could ever penetrate and turn it with ease. I was an “old school” fork-user for many years but this has changed my composting experience for ever. The Compost Crank is also easy on the back, as well as the eye.

— Andy Sheen-Turner

02/9/11

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