8 Ways to use a Compost Sieve

A compost sieve is a essential piece of equipment for any garden or farm, helping to make sure unwanted material doesn’t get added to the soil. The large sieve I built ended up being used in a number of different ways, and for some unanticipated purposes, becoming one of the more useful pieces of equipment in the gardens.
Help me develop these gardens and make more videos / redgardens
Or use www.paypal.me/redgardens as a simple way to help support this project and the time and energy that goes into making videos. Thanks so much!
/ cjredgardens
/ redgardens
Part of the Cloughjordan Ecovillage, Tipperary, Ireland www.thevillage.ie

[@ivyandroses4373]

I love your style. Manual labor pays off later on in years. Im 88 years old and all the manual labor I have done in my Garden and still do daily has me running circles around men half my age. There is magic medicine in touching earth and plants daily. Carry On !!!!!!!!

[@REDGardens]

Ah, thanks! Lovely to hear that you are still going strong with all your gardening. I completely agree with you, and hope I can say the same when I am 88!

[@rachaelmorrow6669]

@@REDGardens I like your channel. I thought to keep the bottom of the pile from going anaerobic, just put something like a step stool or side table on the bottom. So that an air pocket is there.

[@REDGardens]

@@rachaelmorrow6669 I have tried using a pallet at the bottom of the compost, worked a bit, but didn't prevent the stuff in the middle going anaerobic - at least with the way i was loading it. I've changed that process now.

[@REDGardens]

@Lucy Ferro Interesting. I used a bucket a few times to try to separate out the wood from the stones, but didn't really consider the fertility potential.

[@REDGardens]

@Lucy FerroI have considered growing mushrooms, and one of my neighbours is well into them! I haven't gotten into it all yet as I already have too many projects ;-) Hopefully one day.

[@grumpsyb9191]

This is beyond perfect of a "how to" content. You saved everyone who does it for the first time even a month of work, both physical (shoveling, separating) and psychological (planning, improving). We're so grateful for your work. Thank you so much!!! Edit: I found one more use for this sifter - washing big batches of harvest. As you did with potatoes, but just hosing it down in the end.

[@tnekkc]

This video is so well presented, I was amazed. We gardened hard from when I was 25 until I was 50. Then we moved to no garden, lawn or anything. Now at 68 I started again for the grandkids. I am clearing forest land. I am also growing on the roof with a solar powered water valve. I was about to build a sieve today, when I saw this video, I felt like it saved me huge amounts of time and effort.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks! Glad you found my video in time to be useful. Best of luck with your growing!

[@EZEvans1]

What a thoughtful and entertaining style you have. It is unusual to find a person that can deliver information so clearly and with such consideration.

[@REDGardens]

EZEvans1 Thanks!

[@ihateyourusernames]

Honestly... I can't believe why anyone would dislike these videos. Pure educational gold.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks! There are always a few!

[@rodericktheartist]

Right? I'm intrigued every time I watch. Great understandable content. I started my compost bin because of him!!!

[@denty32]

Haters have got to hate. Education in any form is gold

[@captainjayc9217]

Exactly. He told us what works and what doesn't. This saves us a lot of time in trials and errors.

[@annettecollins3469]

@@rodericktheartist I've been nervous about starting one, but after watching him...I'M IN!!!

[@jeffreydustin5303]

Idea for the sieve: still put it up sloping at a 45 degree angle, placing chains on each corner to vertical posts so whenever you put material, there is a swinging to and fro motion shaking the material automatically. Also adding used bicycle wheels and two axles so you can move it and two 2x4 handles at a 45 degree at the front allowing you to move it like a wheelbarrow. Finally, you could add multiple screens stacked to get very fine compost.

[@martinhawes5647]

I’ve been wanting to get a multi layered system like that. I’m wondering the best way to have the lower layers. I feel like they need to be removable to easily sort through what is caught below.

[@knot4man]

Yes, wheels!

[@scottiajohnston8025]

What a great video. I love that you showed the progession as you worked through as your needs and ideas changed. My favorite parts were the funnel shape at the end and the use of the bucket. This video gave me the idea of adding on locking leg hinges so it could be stored upright and two or three overlays with different screen sizes that can be pegged onto the top of the largest holed screen. I'm definitely going to use the end of this video as a starting point for my sieve. I already have one on top of my compost bin, but realized I can't haul my bin, but I can certainly use my yard cart. Thanks again so much for a great video and the inspiration you've given me.

[@TheUntypicals]

You can also use it as a wash station, place potatoes and other root vegetables and get the hose out

[@REDGardens]

good idea.

[@Trek4Truth]

it will work well for drying onions and garlic, have been doing that for a few years, also drying stevia leaves.

[@Chris-un3ul]

Put wheels on one end, this will make it easier to move around the garden. Great idea and I plan to make one myself. Cheers mate.

[@REDGardens]

Wheels would help. Hope your sieve works out well.

[@jacksrabbit181]

Can’t believe this was done the moment it was put horizontally.

[@shaunkirk6450]

@@REDGardens this was going to be my comment as well. Transportation of equipment/machinery needs to be done as efficiently as possible. Great video though with great learning opportunities.

[@LockRocker]

If wheels on one end don't work out, look at ski feet.

[@joew717]

@@REDGardens would definitely save your back for a small investment in some all terrain cart tires

[@heavyd777]

I built a soil sifter with 1/4 inch hardware cloth (poultry fencing) and it works well. However, I think I will make one with the 1/2 inch screen. If you don't have one, you should make one. The soil is amazing and will change gardening for you.

[@timcarrington1311]

Good ideas, sir. My own variation in a small garden is a sieve that fits on top of the wheelbarrow. But if I get to a bigger one like yours I think I will put the one of 4 legs with wheels at one end to make it easier to move around. Like the feathered gardeners you have.

[@L_Martin]

4:34 I have to thank you so much for this insight!! Even doing this at my small scale with a hand-sieve and a plastic plant pot full of pebbles and soil, it has helped so much to use the plant pot itself to rake the contents back and forth over the mesh of my sieve! Game changer! Thank you again, you have a made a very monotonous miserable task more bearable!

[@REDGardens]

Glad my experience and video was useful in your own efforts.

[@tkorkunckaya]

Why I like your videos most is that you do not say you can do this do that. Instead you share and show your experience, way of doing. Thanks.

[@msfoto3541]

Funny thing is just yesterday I was thinking of making a sieve for my compost pile. I'm a beginning gardener that has been at it off and on for nearly 20 years. During this pandemic, I've been watching all things gardening, and then this great video pops up into my feed. Great timing.

[@jeil5676]

I heard that a milk crate works well.

[@REDGardens]

Glad you found my video! Good luck with the gardening!

[@Frenchiezy]

Fantastic video! I love the way you went through the different variations of the build and uses for it. VERY informative and full of first hand experience!

[@MO-ch6ni]

We need one of these guys in every small community

[@REDGardens]

Ah, thanks! When I started this project years ago, before I even considered KZbin, I thought that these gardens would be a community resource, with versions spread throughout the country.

[@epiphgd4302]

This is excellent. The vocal presentation and the sieve itself. Superb.

[@REDGardens]

Thank you very much!

[@sandraharris1650]

Genius, I just picked up 20 40 lb bags free compost from this city this weekend. Unfortunately it's full of rocks pieces of bark and other materials. I decided to repurpose a vegetable BBQ pan, to sift the soil. It would make life so much easier if I had your little device. It's amazing what you find in a public compost give back. I'm grateful for the opportunity to receive the free compost ., it helps quite a bit with the cost of container gardening. Thanks for the inspiring video. Happy planting.

[@REDGardens]

Glad you liked my video and got something out of it. I find the sieve invaluable for filtering out undesired objuects form the compost. Today I found a household teaspoon - bent in half!

[@anniegaddis5240]

I watched this video again, after a year, and wondered how I could forget to build this great devise. Made in Fall when I had all those leaves to work with too... sigh. It's on my to-do list now, so I won't forget! Thanks again, for a great video!

[@crystalwright1504]

I have a similar sieve. Mine was originally built as a washstand for cleaning produce that was very dirty and that I was going to need to wash before canning or freezing. This year, my husband was impatiently filling new garden boxes and the compost he was using was full of large clumps. I wanted a way to sift it and break down the clumps. It worked great!! Thanks for the verification that I was on the right track. Happy gardening!

[@chrisholbourn2793]

This is a keeper. Ingenious. Thanks for doing the hard graft so the rest of us can learn from your experience. Another great video.

[@REDGardens]

Glad you appreciate my efforts!

[@Inubaye.]

Waooo... this is what I need in my farm! I'm constructing one immediately.Thank you for sharing.

[@miguelbinha]

Niiiice. Been thinking about a contraption to do the same. Thought of one with a fulcrum and a lever with an attached crate at the end and use the lever to make an up and down motion and thus loosening clumps of grass and separate its roots. Gave up and now I saw your contraption, eheheh!

[@dmbelafan]

I've just started gardening and composting in earnest this year, and built a similar (smaller) screen to remove rocks form beds I'm working. This video has saved me ages of trial and error, and given me some new ideas. Really great content.

[@nickthegardener.1120]

Best garden invention ever! I'm going to build one and introduce it to my allotment! 👍

[@REDGardens]

Go for it! Hope it works well for you.

[@MYPERMACULTUREGARDEN]

Hello, my name is Irene, I stumbled on to your channel looking for compost , What a great find ! Now I'm a brand new subscriber. I'm 65 yrs old and this year I started a permaculture food forrest . Now I will be using you for info, Like your style of teaching and making videos !!!

[@REDGardens]

Glad you found my channel, and even better that you appreciate my work! Thanks.

[@dutchbeef8920]

You’ve given me an idea for an allotment table or bench where the top lifts out to reveal the screening

[@denathompson6527]

Love this idea. My soil is full of rocks like this and after 2 weeks on my hands and knees trying to remove the rocks from my gardens, this is something I will be trying very soon. Thank You

[@xebatansis]

I love that you include all the little steps along your progress.

[@REDGardens]

Glad you appreciate that part of my videos. I think it is important stuff to include.

[@terryc47]

Luv the way the chickens have given their seal of approval approve to the seive. The idea of it being mobile, and that one can move it to the next garden bed and sift directly is fantastic. Thankyou for sharing.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks! The chickens did like it when I was working with the sieve.

[@senatorjosephmccarthy2720]

Thanks for showing the stages of use of the elevated sifter. I'll probably make one, having chicken fence in my collection. It's a good idea. Instead of making more stands, you could make frames of 1 × 3 that fit inside the existing frame, that hold different gauge(?) screens. Hole saw holes for lightening. I'll make some wooden wheels and make an axle from a hickory sapling- it has to be cylinder only where the wheel rolls. Vegetable oil lubrication.

[@ScottHead]

This has me thinking... this would be an excellent way to sift my soil over my beds to eliminate the nutsedge root networks that invade my area. Hmm... thinking. Thanks for such a thorough treatment of this too. My sieve is currently too small for such work but the one you built is simple enough to construct. Thanks so much!

[@REDGardens]

I find it really useful to remove scutch/couch grass root networks.

[@superalex2002]

Great ideas and thank you for sharing ! You saved me a bunch of time I would have lost experimenting.

[@joelambert6816]

This guys approach to gardening is awesome

[@L_Martin]

Just in general, I admire how your mind works! Thanks for sharing all you have learned. I have so many pebbles in soil to sort through, and this video gave me so many tips and ideas at a point where I have been feeling depressed about the scale of the task. The video itself is laid out in an intelligent and pleasing way! You are talented, sir 😁

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@helenavan7584]

Your chickens are part of your process team very helpful.

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, they are!

[@travwilson7827]

One of the best and most helpful gardening videos I’ve seen in a while. Thank you!

[@REDGardens]

Wow, thanks!

[@moriahm9926]

my husband and I build a sieve earlier today! thanks for the video it was really helpful. we tried a modified version of this for our wheelbarrow. love these videos!

[@jeromemccormick833]

Would like to see your modified sive.Cheers

[@johnellis8401]

I built my sifter based on your design. It's been great! Keep up the good work

[@REDGardens]

Wow, that's quick. Glad it works for you.

[@GrownToCook]

Than you for sharing this, Bruce! It's inspiring how you keep improving your approach and always think of better ways to do any task. We'll definitely look into making a horizontal sieve like this!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. Hope your exploration with making a sieve works out well for you.

[@c2farr]

Regarding the idea of a finer sieve, maybe you could cut to fit a piece of hardward cloth with finer mesh size, like 1/2 inch, and just lay it in, on top of the 1 inch mesh as needed.

[@sarah16isabella]

Honestly this channel is bloody brillient

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@back40bandit98]

I'm gonna try this out in my gardens. Great idea. Thank you for your ingenuity.

[@yowhatitlooklike]

I pretty much ended up with a horizontal sieve similar to the one you have, except fixed to a corner of my yard (using existing wooden fence for extra structural support). I also used 1/4 inch screen and made the screen frame hinged so I can easily dump the debris as needed. The hinges are also useful because can I lift and drop the screen repeatedly on the supporting structure to break up the finer clumps. Gonna try your bucket technique though!

[@howard5567]

I only have one or two to things add #1.A worm bed as a bio composter, an after a year I remove the worm and start a new bed. Then I add a measure of peat moss, small chard hummus, perlite, vermiculite & river sand. I know some would say that a lot. But for a 2,000 + sq ft southern exposure Greenhouse? But for me it's therapy with all my raised beds. I do wont to thank all the people on KZbin channel that showed how to build a little piece of heaven for myself, right here on Earth!

[@e1ay3dme12]

Bravo, Red. Simplicity and flexibility of design. Good work here.

[@sreenathachar3246]

Good configuration and technology in perfect Use.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks!

[@TheSybil47]

I quite liked your video. I liked the way you showed me how you kept on making your system work better, and better. I will certainly use this great tips.

[@gillianbc]

Simple tool, so many uses. This has give me some great ideas. I will make a smaller one that fits over a tub. When my flower borders get very weedy and need remedial action, I like to lift out the plants in autumn, divide them and then I try and get every scrap of weed root out of the soil.

[@REDGardens]

One that fits over a tub would be very useful, especially for remedial work that you mention.

[@stephenhaythornthwaite7762]

I had been looking at rotary sieves but this idea is so simple and yet brilliant. I have a very small plot so a version like yours with folding legs and only a 4 foot sieving grid would be fine. Love your little helpers too. cluck, cluck.

[@REDGardens]

Cool. Glad you found the idea useful. Hope it works for you.

[@MorganBrown]

Without even watching the video, I love the compost sieve leaned up against the tree. I'm totally going to lean my sieve up against a tree and give that a shot!

[@REDGardens]

Cool. Hope it works well for you.

[@MorganBrown]

@@REDGardens Of course, then I watched the video...and I see that the optimal approach gets a little more complicated! Painful as compost sieving is, I guess the anticipation of actually using the compost drives me to push through the pain. ;-)

[@REDGardens]

@@MorganBrown Lol. Well, the 'optimal' approach seems to depend on the material, and the person using it!

[@eduffy88]

We use one every year. Great tool for the garden.

[@REDGardens]

Yes indeed!

[@beauxtx1959]

A most excellent video of the progress of a tool. Well done!

[@ollievw3450]

Thanks for showing your thought process on the additional uses of the sieve.

[@REDGardens]

Glad you appreciate my work!

[@toniwarrson2682]

y really well your teaching on compost has really taught me alot about layering your compost and know i really got some good stuff i love how the chicken help you you are for shore one of a kind keep up great work and again thank you

[@Hibiol-of-my-decay]

I'm so glad this was on my recommendation, I'm having this problem with my compost and the other ideas that you shared are truly inspiring.

[@Jason-gp1pi]

I thought the same

[@SeattlePioneer]

Good ideas. I've been shoveling compost into a hand held screen and then shaking it by hand --- a lot of work. I'll start thinking about how to use some of the ideas presented in the video.

[@sust8n]

Perfect example of iterative development and incremental improvement. Thanks for the great video. I may make myself one very similar.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. Hope it works really well for you.

[@msdaisy6949]

I love your show. Youre so unassuming. So natural. And you give us TONS of good info.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks!

[@wipeoutxl21]

sifting the compost over the beds is GENIOUS!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks! It i strange how these ideas just come to you occasionally.

[@udumkopf8217]

Your video was one of the best edited and narrative videos I have seen. Keep making videos just like this... Short and to the point!

[@JayKughan]

Now that's working-smart. I like how you improved productivity using a basic tool. Tanx for sharing your experience & learnings.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks!

[@Boro0820]

Like your style! I appreciate how you go through the process of augmenting to fit your needs.

[@REDGardens]

Great to hear that some people value my approach to these things!

[@johnreck399]

Great idea. I will be implementing this in my garden when I return to the Philippines.

[@REDGardens]

Cool. Hope it works for you!

[@trockodile]

Excellent! Thank you so much for your work and desire to help others. This, with some minor modifications, will help me so very much as I begin my own journey into small scale home farming or Crofting as its known by here in the Scottish Highlands. Great work! 👍

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. Glad you found it useful, and good luck with your journey!

[@Marco9K]

Thank you for sharing this, I was happy to see the different uses you had for it. Very inspiring indeed and keep up the good work!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks!

[@carleenmae2354]

Great ideas. My husband made one that fits perfectly on the wheelbarrow, very helpful. We use it on both compost and topsoil.

[@REDGardens]

I was recently thinking I needed on to fit on my wheelbarrow!

[@Anthony_Lee99]

I have been looking online for a riddle, i'm so glad i found this video, I actually have access to the materials to make one of these at work, Cant believe i never even thought of making one. Thanks again. Great video

[@REDGardens]

Glad it was helpful!

[@rhomanmason8131]

I’m going to build one off those tomorrow for my allotment plot looks great you did a good job what a useful tool 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@AK-ru3sg]

Thank you for sharing your learnings. Saves me going through that myself. I think the horizontal methid will work for me. Best regards to you.

[@avarria5872]

This was incredibly useful. I am going to make one of those sifters myself. The horizontal use of it is amazing. This looks so much easier than using a small sifter in a 5-gallon bucket.

[@andy_rb]

Thank you for sharing. Jumping straight to the end of your iterative improvement process will save me a lot of time!

[@REDGardens]

Lol

[@thomasreto2997]

thank you. After you showing me this I might build one. You always think outside the box and come up with simple, yet extremely practical solutions.🌈🤙

[@REDGardens]

Cool. Hope it works out well for you.

[@HardyCozen]

One of the best videos about compost. Thank you!

[@REDGardens]

Cool, glad you liked it!

[@SuperClarenceZ]

Thanks for the video. I have been filling raised beds I just built with soil from other parts of my land and I needed a sieve video. Gratitude

[@REDGardens]

Cool.

[@anabelaschoblocher8900]

I enjoyed your video and the style that you took in making it. I'll keep watching for you of them.

[@REDGardens]

Awesome, thank you!

[@saltycowgirl]

All of your videos are a testament to be efficient... awesome an thank you, I can definitely learn from you... blessings from Texas

[@REDGardens]

Thank you, all the way over there in Texas!

[@nancywebb6549]

I have had several of those over the last 30 years. I moved a lot and leave them behind. Not planning to garden at the new place. That never works so I build another. I am 78 and gardening. I live alone so I don’t need the vegetables so my local food bank appreciates them. The guys who take them tell me that the clients really like them so here I am starting seeds and getting ready to try all the new methods I have learned this winter on You Tube. Thanks for your hard work!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks for sharing. I love it when people continue to grow and end up giving away excellent vegetables. May you have another really productive season!

[@WhaleStress]

You did a really good job on this video.

[@EdieBabeMonster]

Thank you very much this is totally my style and I love your thoroughness!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks.

[@lisahodges8299]

I have a similar sieve but with a more narrow gauge net. This helped to remove more unwanted matter. Birdy

[@BeedrillYanyan]

Your style in imparting knowledge is excellent!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks!

[@dutchbeef8920]

You sir are an absolute genius

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@joedo2114]

Great video. Loads of ideas. Thanks

[@kjkjkjtreveces]

Great video, great style!

[@jamestutanekai5060]

It was great to see your sieves evolution thank you.

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@ceramiceye]

That was a really great video. I love seeing the experimental problem-solving process. Thank you for sharing that. I was thinking it might be cool to add wheels to one end of your sieve so you can roll it around like a wheelbarrow.

[@serialbotkiller9998]

Very thorough and instructive, thanks

[@michaelz4680]

Outstanding! Thanks for the great ideas.

[@normschenk3889]

Great video, simple and straight to the points with minutes of pontification like other videos have.

[@trevorallen2274]

Nicely presented. Thank you.

[@dollyperry3020]

Lovely video! I got some great ideas! I hope all is better now. You were missed!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. Getting back on track!

[@AlsanPine]

absolutely outstanding... i was contemplating a motorized drum setup but i like your system better. i especially like the sifting over the bed... this will work very well for me. excellent progressive application of the scientific method and iterative design improvement. thanks for sharing 🙂

[@dennisgodaire485]

I first made a sieve in the late 80's ... now, I have 3 with varying hole sizes ... horizontal works best for me ... thanks for making this video.

[@REDGardens]

Interesting to hear that horizontal works better for you too.

[@gregre052]

I am amazed. I didnt know that anyone but myself ever made a "sieve". My version was even simpler. 4 pieces of 2x4 some mesh nailed on, laid over a wheelbarrow. It gets questions from by- passing drivers, and neighbors. I grew up on a delta island. Apparently settlers barrowed in soil for decades. That was good soil but it was full of rocks and trees from miles away across a major river. I wanted that stuff separated. Genius that i am ( Not) I invented the sieve. As I said I thought I invented it. Looking here i am impressed by how far behind I am was. Shows the value of info access nowadays. I can't believe i didn't think of a narrowed end so i could tilt out the unwanted remnants. Greg

[@REDGardens]

I think loads of people have 'invented' the same thing over the decades, as it is a logical solution to a need. The sharing of possible refinements is definitely a bonus though!

[@shangrilaladeda]

Good video my friend helped me build this in fall of 2018 to help replace my lawn but it’s angled. As I had this item for a while I also realized there are other ways to use it kudos to you.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. I do find it interesting how often tools get used for other things.

[@Gulfraz.]

INSTANTLY recognised your voice from a video I saw you do a few months ago when you set up your grow tunnel! I know I'm gonna love this video too 🔥 😍

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@jasonpreater6220]

I'm going to build one of those!

[@jjc7306]

Incredibly useful video. Thanks for sharing.

[@REDGardens]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ogrodbezchemii3979]

Good job. This is what I need to know about the sieving.Thanks a lot.

[@REDGardens]

Glad it was helpful!

[@26debsterdots]

Thank you for this video. The wheels in my head are turnin ! New gardener and subscriber here, Have an amazing day

[@REDGardens]

Thank you! You too!