Description
Miracle-Gro Small Composter – Compact Single Chamber Outdoor Garden Compost Bin
Product Summary
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Space-Saving Design: Ideal for tight spaces like balconies, porches, patios, or rooftop gardens.
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Efficient Composting: Turns kitchen and garden waste into fertile compost in just 4-6 weeks, aided by a unique aeration system and internal mixing bars.
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Eco-Friendly Benefits: Helps reduce food waste and lower your carbon footprint by composting food scraps, benefiting the environment and your plants.
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Year-Round Use: Heavy-duty design allows for continuous composting throughout the year, featuring a sturdy side-locking mechanism and durable, BPA-free, UV-protected plastic.
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Low Maintenance: Easy to use; simply rotate the bin every few days without the need for manual turning of compost.
This compact compost bin offers an efficient, eco-friendly solution for gardeners looking to recycle waste into valuable compost, regardless of space constraints.
Malthus500 –
Disregard the complaints about assembly. Very simple and well designed. Follow the instructions. Use your thumbs to push the lips through and push hard. Should last years and stop throwing away green scraps. Be the revolution!
Jerry B –
Fairly easy to assemble. Very few parts or components sturdily Made. Looks like it will last a good while. The only thing is I probably should’ve bought something bigger, but I’m just starting with composting so this is a good starter.
Amazon Customer –
It was a little tricky to assemble.
Rowa –
Great composter, with the added benefit of being able to swivel to ensure even coverage.
K.I. –
Overall happy with this composter. It’s my first time composting. With this one, liquid will drip out of the holes so don’t place this composter on a solid surface. Putting it over the dirt is better. It requires some brute strength to assemble and has a lot of assembly required, but was easy enough for 2 people to do in less than 30 minutes. With time and use, your composter may expand width-wise as the decomposing material puts pressure on the plastic sides. So keep an eye on it, you might have to snap it back into place every so often to prevent a bunch of compost from suddenly falling out. Just something to be aware of when buying this.
Carolyn S –
This compost tumbler seems to be working fine for what I wanted so far. It wasn’t too hard to assemble, but having help is good since getting the clips for the side pieces was a little challenging. We used a small hammer and nothing broke. What I wish I had known about this: You will attract flying insects that are probably gnats and fruit flies – so if you want to put this on a patio or deck, make sure it is away from the door and door is closed when you open it. Also debris falls out of the small air holes when you spin this. Not an issue if it’s on the ground, but ours is on a patio, so it’s annoying. I’m looking for a tray to put under it when I rotate it.
Overall, I think it’s good quality and holds quite a bit of material. It seems like it will last. If you want a small tumbler, this is a good option.
Update: We’ve had this for a while now and had a few issues I wanted to add. We initially put this on a patio on the side of our house, but the debris falling out was an issue. I thought a tray would be a good idea until. It rained and I had standing water. Then a dark brown liquid (probably due to coffee grounds) began dripping out and staining the patio. So I moved it to a flower bed. (I dont have a back yard, just a patio, otherwise I would have gone with a different compost solution.). The flower bed is not level and after turning it, the metal piece at the bottom disengaged. It isn’t secured in any way. While getting my husband to help me resecure it (It’s getting pretty heavy, about half full) the side plastic piece started to come off. We were able to snap it back, but I am concerned that it hasn’t held together as well as I hoped. We decided not to add anything else but perhaps some leaves due to the weight. Since it’s early summer I may have added more green than is optimal. Hopefully this won’t be a complete bust.
Mariah –
[INITIAL 2020 REVIEW] As a heads up, the product does not come with paper assembly instructions, so you will need to go online to get them. While I like the idea of cutting down on paper, I always find omitting the instructions in particular to be a real nuisance and makes a product immediately less consumer-friendly.
The main issue, however, is that getting the side walls of the product to properly snap together is a challenge. I couldn’t seem to get things properly aligned and, when the directions online said to use a little force, the only thing I accomplished was buckling and snapping some of the side connections (note: I have minimal upper arm strength, and can say honestly that I was not exerting much actual force so this was surprising to me.) Because the product is now slightly broken, I’m going to need to find my own way to fit it together and mend any unintended gaps so that it can be (hopefully) functional. This is likely going to impact it’s long-term stability and effectiveness, so I can’t rate how the product actually works when assembled successfully.
Overall, this was supposed to be my first foray into composting, so I’m a bit disappointed that I’m off to such a bad start. I think the product design could be tweaked a little to make assembly easier. It looks like it should be straightforward to put together, but even the slightest misalignment appears very difficult to correct and throws the whole thing off. If it had been able to assemble smoothly, I would otherwise have been very happy with the size and overall design of the product.
[1 YEAR UPDATE – 2021] I refused to give up on this little composter. After a few weeks of huffing at the half-finished assembly every time I walked by it and occasionally attempting to wrangle all the connections together, I was finally able to fully assemble it. The side connection area I accidentally snapped in my initial assembly attempt didn’t appear too noticeable in the end, either. Since assembling it, I have been using it for a full year and it’s still holding steady.
Yes, it was a headache and a half to put together – and I still think that’s worth considering before you buy it – but in my case, it turned out to be worth it. I’ve found it’s really easy to use and it does its job quite well. It doesn’t take up a lot of space in the yard and is very discrete (it does fill up quick though! I find myself wishing I had bought the double composter option so I could start a second batch.)
I would tentatively recommend this product for those who have the dexterity and patience for the initial assembly – or those who know someone else who can be tasked with assembling it for them! With this in mind, I’ve revised my rating from “1 star” to “4 stars.” Happy composting!
JenJ –
I like the size. It fits behind my grill so you don’t see it from the yard.
Reviews were correct about the assembly. Not difficult but we did break one of the pieces while putting it together. It still works though.
Malthus500 –
Me encantó, fácil de armar, no escurre nada, lo puedes revolver sin problema y ha soportado muy bien el sol. La cantidad de mosquitas disminuye si agregas más tierra y revuelves bien. Muy buena capacidad, le he estado poniendo el desperdicio de 1 mes (somos 4 personas en la familia) y solo lleva 1/3 de capacidad. Muy recomendable para nutrir la tierra del jardín.
Les –
One part is missing I can’t build it now ?
Mariela R. –
Small and compact, but that is what I was looking for.
The assembly can be a little tedious. I laughed at the *use force” step, Force alone won’t do it, you need to make sure the tabs are aligned before any force is used. Some gentle force and finesse would be more like it. However, in the end, it all came together nicely and sturdily. It was assembled in a reasonable amount of time, but I could definitely see some people that aren’t too handy struggling with it. I’m happy with it overall. (Now to get the compost process going…)
Update: Upgraded to 5 stars. Since using it, I’ve ordered a 2nd one! This one came together great, experience helps. Having 2 small tumblers is even better!
ASH –
I live in a super dry climate and don’t have a lot of space in my backyard for composting. I took a risk on this tumbler since I thought it might be a bit easier to add material to along with water. It’s been working great and I’ve been considering actually adding another one to the mix so that I always have compost ready to use. I appreciate how sturdy it is and how small of a footprint it takes up.
Les –
It was a bit challenging to assemble due to the tabs not lining up with holes. However, when I finally got it to line up it assembled smoothly.