Tools for Composting

What tools do you use to help you with your compost creation?

There are a few that I frequently use.

Sifter

Compost Sifter

I use a sifter when I am harvesting finished compost to remove any large chunks. Anything that doesn't pass through the screen ends up back into a working compost pile to continue to break down. This assists with handling of the finished compost and gives me an amendment that is rather consistent.

Pitchfork



My go-to tool for handling compost is the pitchfork. It is great for transferring materials and poking around in the piles. I keep one near my active piles so I can expose the core, add more materials, and recover it quickly. Out of all of my compost related tools this is the one that gets the most use.

What tools do you use?

I'm thinking of purchasing a scraper/chopper tool with the intent of being able to process down some woodier material by hand and to work the compost pile itself.

Anyone have any experience with one?

First, my hands. I mostly pull weeds and carry them to the heap. Then, a year or two later, a fork to scrape the stuff away from the top of the heap. And last, a spade to load up buckets of humus that I take back to a garden bed. I've thought about building a screen for the purpose you outlined, but so far, I just use my hand to toss large chunks -- bone or avocado seeds or the base of a cornstalk or whatever else hasn't broken down completely, back onto the heap.

But honestly, I'm doing less and less composting and more just mulching chop'n'drop nearby. Our kitchen scraps still go to one of the heaps until I get chickens online and at that point I probably won't really compost at all anymore.

Timothy Norton wrote:I'm thinking of purchasing a scraper/chopper tool with the intent of being able to process down some woodier material by hand and to work the compost pile itself.

Anyone have any experience with one?

Yes, I do this a lot. Mostly I use a long handled shovel with a sharp blade that has basically no offset from the line of the handle -- great chopper for compost, weeds, or ice.

Another very useful tool is a stout lawn edger. You know, the half moon shape. I sharpen these on one side and sometimes use a battery angle grinder to add little serrations as well. These have a wider contact area with the material being chopped (compared to the shovel), so you can put your weight on it and rock it back and forth.

Naturally I scrounge all of these tools for cheap/free.

I like that 6 tine pitchfork, would be hard to find one round here, mostly 4 and 5 tines. I have worn out all of our forks using them like a broadfork. So many times with a fork I have gently loosened the soil in the garden and good things happen. The pitchfork is my go to tool. My composting is rather quaint in that I pile the overwinter mulch on the garden edge and just let the soil critters have at it. Might add some gypsum, chicken pellets and new green weeds and turn it a few times, it is soon dark and earthy. Use it around the garden plants for fertility and to hold moisture.