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| After lurking here for a year I have accepted that I am addicted to composting and gardening...
This is my first year composting. I have a beautiful compost pile that I started in August. I dug a trench 2'-3' deep and built a 8x5x4 pile on top of it. My pile consists of: - straw
I've lovingly turned the pile every 2-3 days since its birth and it always reheated. I've nurtured it until all the greens are nearly unrecognisable. It's now refusing to reheat, becoming surly and resisting turning due to shrinkage (it's compacted quite a bit recently making it harder to hand turn) Is it now time to stop adding to it and trying to reheat it?
My goal is fluffy, crumbly, dark compost. I've 5 pepper plants that I will add if I know it the compost will be finished in may. Cheers,
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| If it is a dark chocolate brown and smells of good, rich earth and very little of the original material is recognizable you have finished compost that can be spread on your garden. |
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- Posted by mirendajean none (My Page) on Thu, Nov 8, 12 at 9:33
| Thanks for responding. The greens are unrecognisable but the brown are recognisable. It smells like things are still breaking down. It's still warm but not "hot". If I add my last load of greens to it will the whole pile ( as far as we can guess) be ready by May? Should I leave it alone? M |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr 5 (My Page) on Thu, Nov 8, 12 at 10:30
| It would probably be ready by May with a couple of turnings, it sounds fairly active. What you need is 2 piles. Start another one for winter (you have kitchen scraps and leavese, right?). That way your first pile won't have fresh stuff in it when you're ready to start gardening. You seem to be turning quite often, and there's nothing wrong with that, but you can get by with much less work. I always seem to have a lot of other chores to do with my time, but that may not be true for everyone. Happy composting. |
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- Posted by mirendajean none (My Page) on Thu, Nov 8, 12 at 13:27
| I may take your advice Mr.Crusader. I may start another pile as i have an unending supply of gorgeous compostables. It's difficult to leave the compost alone and allow it to mature. It's my baby! As for turning... I've two lovely children at home whose addictions include the TV and computer. Thier detox has been compost maintenance, dead heading, and harvesting :-). A that free labor allows me to obsess over my vermi-bins and roses. I do take all the credit for the compost though ;-) M |
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| That's funny M! Must be teenagers! I LOVE your solution to their addiction! lol! |
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| 2-3 days for turning is great if you have the energy. There's no sense killing yourself if your compost is going to finish and they sit there for months, but that's a rare problem. Once you go below 40 degrees you won't get much action, so your pile will sleep until you get warmer. |
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- Posted by mirendajean none (My Page) on Thu, Nov 8, 12 at 14:31
| I live in a very mild part of Ireland. The average winter temperature will be above 40 for most of the winter. I hope to have The compost ready for my veggies when I transplant in May. My boys are 9&11. Ive got them gardening early otherwise they'd be vampires that feed on electronics. I make them turn the pile and chat about thier day. M |
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