We had major oak tree work done. The resulting dump truck load of chipped oak tree wood and leaves was dumped on our driveway. I've been moving it around to paths, and to an area that I want to expand into a garden at some point. Then I have/am spreading the remaining; which is actually most of it - along one part of the driveway that I call my composting zone. It is where my compost bin is and where I dump yard stuff to sit and compost. This area is also my worm ranch. Lots of happy/hungry worms. The compost bin is a 4x4x8" bottomless 'sandbox' with compost and compost to be that is in good condition; with an active healthy BSF population.

Spread out, I think I will end up with an area about 10'x5' and at the current volume about 12" tall. The pile on the driveway is very hot, and even the spread out sections are still warm.

An old time Florida gardening book I'm reading talks about converting mulch to compost. They say to start with a layer of muck then 8 - 10" of mulch then manure. Repeat mulch/manure layers. In the end, cap it all with a mix of sand & gypsum about 8" thick.

Of course I would like to aid this mulch pile to a quick and painless journey to compost. Hence, my question to you all here.

I am in Central Florida, my soil is sand. Sand. Not sandy. Sand. As in sugar sand if I dig deep enough. Years of adding oak and pine tree parts, and feeding the earthworms, I have a top layer of something that resembles sandy soil. For a few inches.

Since this pile is in my compost zone, it is already on top of some of the best loamy stuff I have available. So leaching away will be somewhat contained. Runoff is not a huge issue, as I have a run off trapment area.

OK, so I'm finally getting to my question(s)!

1. Would spreading the contents of my compost bin on top this help significantly? Because I would much rather use it in my garden.

2. Capping with a mixture of sand/gypsum would not be that tough to manage. Will it benefit the decomposition rate and/or improve the final product?

Thanks everybody!

~dianne