Turning the heap

Turning your compost is very good for it as it speeds up the process. ( And a very good workout for you). It adds air to the mix and encourages the heap to heat up. It also mixes the waste. You will see when you turn that some parts are decomposing more quickly. This can be because it is too dry.
This is one of my wooden heaps:

 The front is made of slats so it is very easy to dig out the compost.
I recently started to dig out the wooden bin next to this one. There was some good compost but also a lot of dry material which was not rotting very well. Probably the remains of last years autumn cut down. I dug out what I could and am in the process of sieving it (see my last post).
Then I started to dig out this bin and fork it over to the next one.

I layered it up with some grass clippings and green material. I did it over a week or so, added material as I had it and forked over some more from the left hand bin.  Grass clippings are very good for speeding it up but should be added in thin layers.

This is the first heap to the right hand side.

It is now full so I covered it with some old carpets. It is quite wet as we had had rain during the time I was digging and re-filling but if it seems dry you can add water. 

Now I'll leave this to cook for a month or two and then have a look to see how it is doing. It may not take as long as usual as some of it was half rotted anyway.
In the meantime, I still have some sieving to do but I can use that lovely compost for my courgette plants!