A very good day to all you wonderful people who garden and if you garden of course you are wonderful people! Well believe it or not, my Wife looks after all the compost making, which this time of the year keeps her very busy and we are not getting any younger! I saw on a gardening program several years ago where someone had made an "electrical sifter”. As far as I can remember it was a wooden frame (about 3ft X 4ft) with about 4inch sides and metal screen underneath! But the heart of the sifter was the way it was attached to a frame which allowed it to move horizontally and controlled by a small electric motor! Now please,please,please if you know of any plans for such as this send them to me! Here is my Email: normanhoward@shaw.ca as a matter of interest I won the largest Onion contest last year in Canada with a 5 1/2 lb Kelsae. This year it looks about 6 1/2lbs and still another month to go! Oh yes, my Wife grows flowers and I vegetables! I wish we could post photos on this forum! Cheerio from "Cockneytwo" Victoria. Beautiful British Columbia. Canada.

Norman, Sorry, no help here. But about thoe photos, why not share them with us on the SHOWCASE section of this site???

I've not seen snything with a motor, but there's an interesting rotating one (if a little odd looking...) made from a hose reel that looks like it might be easier than a purely manual, flat one. I'm not sure how you fill it. For information on it go to:

http://www.mastercomposter.com/equip/robsift.html

Norman

Congradulations for growing that monster onion. You sure do things big in BC.

The answer to your quest was at your finger tips SEARCH

Here is a repeat of the brief description of that wonderful tool for the avid gardener or Tim the Toolman type that you asked about ......an ELECTRIC VIBRATING SIEVE.

It is a homemade contraption that you can easily assemble in an hour or so with material from home or your local building supplier. Dimensions could be reduced according to your needs and ability to store. I make about two cubic yards of the most beautiful compost with it every year and it is a good size for my needs. Briefly: Nail together a rectangular box ~two feet by five feet. With roofing nails,secure a piece of galvanized diamond mesh to this box. Nail two struts with a plywood cross brace Bolt on an old electric motor(eg from furnace blower) to the top of the box. Drill a hole in the pulley and tightly fasten a large bolt. This off-balance pulley causes the box to vibrate when the motor is plugged in. Again.. ensure that bolt is tight. You don't want NASA wondering where that new satellite came from.

Compost can be sieved directly into a wheelbarrow or onto a piece of plywood for easy shovelling. Screenings are tossed onto the active compost heap to cook for another year . This device not only gives you the nicest textured compost for your garden, but will likely be the envy of the neighbourhood. It is also been great for sifting soil for new beds and peat for hypertufa projects.

Finally, you may wish to install wheels to it so you can get it back from garden buds whenever you need it!!!

With the lovely sieved compost, ten pound onions will be the norm next year :~)