A Good Time of Year to Move and Use the Compost.

Compost Heaps - 

You can just let the compost sit there and rot but it will not make good compost quickly. If you want to speed the process up and get out some good compost to add to your soil and raised beds, now is a good time to do it.

I have two heaps for composting on the allotment, stored in a large 'compost bin' built from  wooden pallets that we were given. Now is a good time of year to get access to the compost that I have and to also turn over the materials that are still composting. 

Oddly it is a task that I enjoy doing, as by now I have enough experience to be able to look at the heap and know what to do with it. 

This week I have emptied one compost bin and used the finished compost at the bottom of the pile for adding to the raised beds. Any twiggy bits and  not yet composted items got chucked back in to make the start of the new heap. I also add some of the good stuff with the worms back into the new compost heap to give it a good start. Then I can start wok on the other bin and reap the benefits of the compost from that while adding the ingredients that need a bit more time to convert into the other bin. I am doing the compost heap a favour by turning it as I do this sorting process and it also incorporates air to the 'what was layers'.

Good compost does not smell and when it is ready the little red worms have usually left it to work on the next lot that needs converting. When I say it does not smell, I mean good compost is not stinky and does smell unclean. It smells in the way that the soil does after rain, which I quite like.

As I am putting the compost back into a heap I try to remember the principle of layering it. So if I think it needs more carbon layers I would add some to the new stack that I am building. carbons are also called browns while the nitrogen ones are called greens but this does not necessarily denote the colour of the items it is a reference to nitrogens and carbons in general.

List of some of the items I could add  to the compost bin that are carbon rich - 

• dead dry leaves ( but they do compost slowly and make a great leaf mulch)
• paper and cardboard.
• straw

I tend to have mostly greens from garden waste so the carbons are often the ones I need to add.

Off now to turn that compost heap. 

Tips for Making Compost, how to get it right.

Tips on How to Make Compost.

Composting and compost varies each time you make it.

Given ideal conditions the turn-around from waste products to usable compost is fast.
This is a case of the perfect conditions rarely being available so usually we just have to do what we can to speed things up a bit.

Things that make the composting process faster.

1. Incorporate more air to the compost heap for example by turning it over.

2. Make adjustments when the heap is too wet or too dry. 
    Add a bucket of water or two if it is dry and try adding ripped up cardboard if it is too wet.

3. Getting the combination of nitrogen and carbons that you add right.

 Carbon rich items are classed as browns when composting (not a reference to their colour/color).

 Greens are the nitrogen rich items that you add to your heap.

• Now somewhere there is a perfect balance that is the best equation of these two types of ingredients and the percentage of each that should go onto the heap. 

• However, my school of thought about this is that if I spend too long worrying about the perfect quantity of greens to browns to throw on the compost heap, I will never get anything planted or growing. 

• So, I just chuck in the suitable items for composting as and when we discard them. 

• Then when I have the time and inclination I go and give the heap a turn over with a gardening fork. At that time I might make adjustments such as adding water or cardboard. If I can see a clump of greens needs mixing in with some other materials I work them in. That is it really. 

I had better mention the little red worms that appear in compost, these are in fact a good sign that the compost is 'working' and that you are on your way to getting compost sooner or later.

• One of the clues that your compost is almost ready to use is when the little red worms that live in it; pack their bags and leave the compost heap. Do n't ask where they go, I do not know. 

I just know that by the time the compost has turned into a usable type of compost for the garden or vegetable plot the little red compost worms have almost all vanished.

If you want to use the compost but it still has twiggy bits not rotted down in it.

If you want to remove them just sieve the compost and throw the twigs back onto the compost heap for next time.
That's it for now.