I mentioned in an earlier blog post about composting that, at my house, a compost pile hangs around for six to nine months before it has broken down enough to use it in a garden bed.
What can you do to speed up the composting process? How can you get access to that fabulous compost as soon as possible?
Once again, there are three keys to compost success.
1) Make the pieces smaller. Smaller pieces decompose faster. If you want compost faster, grind up what you use in your compost. Don’t put big chunks in.
2) Get more air into it. Composting is an aerobic process. For it to happen requires oxygen. The more you aerate your compost, the faster it will break down. So, turn it or whatever, but keep air in all parts of it.
3) Add nitrogen when it cools off. After you initially create your pile, if you’ve put a good amount of nitrogen in, it will heat up. Over time it will cool off again. If you can turn the pile while layering in some more high nitrogren, the pile will heat up again and the decomposition process will rage on.
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