In article ,
doofy wrote:

I'm about to put in a patio garden. I live in a townhouse. If I put a
composter in the small space I've got, will this be a disease source for
the plants I'll have there? What do I do with the "tea" from the bottom
of the composter? If it stinks, I'm sure my neighbors won't want me to
let it drain into our common slab.

What is a good, self-contained composting unit that I can use on a
concrete slab?

What do you want to compost? Kitchen waste? You can do vermiculture
in a big Rubbermaid tub or something similar. (A worm bin.) No smell,
no fuss. And worms love coffee grounds.

A healthy compost pile or bin is NOT a disease source for plants.
But don't compost diseased plants either.

Look he http://www.plantea.com/moretips.htm My friend, Marion Owen,
has a list of 163 things you can compost. I don't know if she's got
directions for urban, small space composting on her site, but a Google
for urban composting would probably find you lots of cool info.

I'm not sure what a townhouse is. I've been in a condo once.
I think they're probably similar. Small decks/patios and neighbors
elbow to jowl. (Sorry, my rural bias is showing.)

HTH,

Jan in Alaska