All serious gardeners acknowledge the undeniable benefits of compost, and most maintain their own compost-bin system. If you want to join their ranks, you’ll need a system that can handle a large volume of material and allow easy access to finished compost. Serious gardeners tend to have lots of material from plant clippings and weeds, but they also seek out compost fodder from outside sources. They grab extra coffee grounds from the local coffee shop, and happily accept bags of their neighbors’ leaves.

Having a multiple-bin system allows gardeners to move partially composted material from the first bin into the second before filling up the first bin again. This movement aerates the pile and speeds decomposition, something very important to gardeners who not only have a large amount of material to handle, but also clamor for the finished product to use in their gardens.