I use a no-turn wire bin method. And because it's slow, I plant things in the full bins:

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You can put ANYTHING that will decompose into a compost bin except:

Things that will attract pests. I compost a few meat scraps, but we don't have bears in the neighborhood. If we had bears, I would be cautious about meat, fruit, and baked goods.

Things that will stink when they decompose can be covered with a layer of sawdust or dead leaves. Farmers often compost dead livestock, Montana has a composting program for roadkill, etc. I compost dog and cat feces and used pine kitty litter. As long as the animal is healthy, I'm not going to get ebola or the plague.

Seeds sprouting from compost is what happens. When you see sprouts, just pull them up and drop them back on the pile.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wire bin composting

Pretty much anything that is organic can be composted. Yard waste, table scraps, newspaper shreds, cardboard, leaves, sawdust... the list goes on and on. I also use a wire bin, but I turn it. It's a square with one open side so I can turn it with a pitchfork. It was really cheap to put together. 4 fence posts that were less than 2 bucks a piece and some chicken wire tied together with zip ties. It works great and can hold a lot of waste.

I'm not sure about the watermelon things. I would take a picture and post it in the fruit forum. They know their stuff over there.

I use old tires personally. The auto shop I live by gives them to me for free and most others should too because (here at least) the shop has to pay to have them removed from the property and disposed of. I simply cut the sides out, wash them to get rid of any road tar, lay them down and fill them up. When they get full I start another stack. They're so much easier to turn too. All I have to do is push the top tire off, set it upright again and start filling it up from the other tires. The open bottoms are also awesome for allowing bugs, worms, lizards etc. to move in all by themselves. AND the black rubber helps keep in heat during the winter helping it break down even then, not to mention keep my lizard friends happy.

I've heard some people claim that they can leech harmful metals into the compost but I don't think thats true. One of the reasons tires are hard to recycle is that the metals are so well bonded to the rubber. But hey I've been wrong before. (its also a great way to reuse pesky tires so they don't end up in dumps)

If you're looking for something mobile, I've heard of people composting directly in a wheelbarrow. That way you can just wheel it around. To turn it I guess you'd dump it out then shovel it back in....

If you've not looked at a composting tutorial yet you might want to spend time with the one linked below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Composting Tutorial

I use a wire bin built with four metal fence post and held together with zip ties--just like the OP's, except I got 1/2 inch hardware cloth instead of chicken wire.

Tumblers are WAY more trouble and they don't work nearly as well as a regular bin. A bin pile heats up. There's a chimney effect as the heat and steam rises, so that air is sucked into the sides at the bottom. It's like the pile is breathing and air circulation is important. You don't get that with a tumbler.

I see how you'd like the idea of keeping it contained, but you'll get used to the idea of an open, living, healthy, aerobic pile after one or two batches go down to sweet smelling earth. I feel affection for my pile, as a living thing--more like a pet than a garbage dump. My bacteria, my rolly-pollies, my little earthworms all around the edges.

Weird, huh?

Not sure what kind of tumbler you had there pp but some tumblers have no problem heating up or breathing.

Personally I've done:

Large tumbler
Small tumbler
Medium tumbler
Wire bin
Large wire bin
EarthMachine
Large windrow
Sheet/mulch composting

These are different techniques using different equipment. For me to say one is better than the other would do a disservice to the readers. Each method has pros and cons and the degree to which one method might be better over another may depend entirely on the parameters each individual has.

Lloyd

WOW pt03! How on earth do you get enough material for each area? I have trouble filling my bins as it is, though i do live in the city. I think its awesome that you've tried so many different ways to compost. You are not only inspiring but informative :D

By the truckload!

I have a contract with the local town, I get about 350-400 tonnes of materials a year. So in a nutshell, I get paid to play with compost!

Lloyd

I have the original ComposTumbler. True enough, it may just be me, but I find it easier to toss weeds into an open pile than load them up into a door that has to be taken off and put back on to turn. Gears or no gears, it takes a fair amount of muscle to turn a big tumbler because you're moving the entire pile at once. It has two small vents on the side, but that still keeps air flow quite restricted compared to an open pile.

I was just offering my opinion, and I should have said IMO instead of putting it out there like established fact that everybody agreed on.

Lloyd,
That is the coolest thing I've ever heard of. I wish i could get paid to compost. It must be awesome to be able to do what you love and get paid for it.

Angelnstuff,
One of my friend's has one of those bins that sits on its side and can be turned by a gear. She says that its not as good as the company makes it out to be. Apparently the air holes make any little stuff fall out the bottom and if she puts newspaper around it to keep things in, then the pile gets no air. She also says the stuff in there is taking forever to break down, though this might be a lack of wet greens because she feeds her table scraps to her chickens.