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Tips To Really Get Your Compost Pile Cooking

Compost pile not really heating up? Is it starting to break down – to turn into dark, nutrient rich humus?

If it’s not going as well as you’d like, here are some tips on getting your compost pile really cooking!

Yes, you might even see steam coming from your compost pile as it really gets hot. This means everything’s processing quickly, which is what you want – to get to use this gorgeous soil on your plants as soon as possible.

So if your compost pile has problems, look at these easy solutions and use them on your heap.

Generally speaking, most organic gardeners love the idea of doing their own composting – a great way to productively use all of your kitchen and garden waste – but some people seem to have a lot of trouble making it really happen.

Don’t give up….please keep trying! Below are some simple methods to give your compost pile a bit of a kick start to get it heating up again – creating fantastic, nutritious, organic humus for your organic food garden.

So after six months or so your pile hasn’t changed much from it’s original state? Bear in mind that there are certain conditions your compost pile needs to be able to actively turn the ingredients you’ve placed in it, into compost.

Air and moisture are needed to keep the microbial activity happening. Try some of these things to get your compost really cooking.

Expose your heap to more air by turning it over again, watering if it’s dry.

Any time your compost pile dries out, it will stop breaking down. Water your heap every few days if the weather is hot and dry.

Include ingredients that are as small as you can practically make them. Use a shredder or lawn mower to chop up larger ingredients such as larger leaves or tree prunings.

Add lots of nitrogen-rich ingredients such as clover, manure laden straws, herbal activators (see below), washed sea-weed or fish-meal to help speed up the composting process.

Herbal Compost Activators – some herbs are well known as particularly impressive compost activators. Add them to your heap to speed up your results. If you grow these in your garden (which I’d recommend), you’ll have them readily available every time you make compost. All of these plants have multiple uses.

Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) is rich in calcium, nitrogen, phosphates and potassium. It has large hairy leaves that break down very quickly. The roots go deep into the ground, breaking up clay soils.

Dandelion (Taraxacum sp) also accelerates the breaking down of materials in the heap. It is rich in copper, potash and iron, all valuable ingredients in your compost. A valuable medicinal herb also.

Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) has a reputation for attracting earthworms to the compost heap. It’s leaves are also rich in minerals and will speed things up.

Yarrow (Achillea sp) can have the most dramatic effect in your heap, even in small amounts. It will enrich your compost with nitrates, potash, phosphares and copper, so is a very valuable addition. You’ll need to cut back your yarrow each Autumn (fall) anyway, so best throw it straight into your heap.

Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) has the ability to concentrate potassium from the soil where it grows. Adding Tansy to your compost means adding potassium – which helps plants resist disease and improves the quality of flowers, fruits and seeds – which is quite important in a vegetable garden.

It’s always a good idea to have two or more compost piles on the go, if you have the space. One that has already turned into that gorgeous, black, earthy plant tonic – ready to use, one that is semi-matured and one that you are preparing to build, by gathering materials.

Another tip is to make sure that air can get into the middle of your heap – especially if you don’t plan to turn it very often (or ever). By burying garden stakes or pvc pipes through the middle of your heap, you can ‘jiggle’ them every few weeks allowing air to get into the middle of your heap.

Give some of these tips a go and I’m sure you will speed things up for your compost heap and you will be top-dressing your veggies with your own compost in no time.

Please encourage everyone you know to recycle and make their own compost.

Today’s Top Tip

Keep Your Compost Organic

Keep your compost free of pesticides by not using grass clippings that contain pesticide residue. You want to be free to use your compost on a vegetable garden with no concern.