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Making Compost Faster - How to Speed Up Your Compost Bin

November 24th, 2009 | by |

Most gardeners are aware of many of the reasons to compost, but some struggle with making enough compost for their use.  Here are some tips to getting your garden composter working faster.

We all want to have all the compost we can get for our gardens. Compost does good things for your garden in more than one way. Compost improves the soil drainage while it retains the water better in dry periods. Soil pH is buffered by compost, so the resultant soil pH is closer to about 6.5.   Sifted compost is a good seed starting medium, great for those small seeds like carrots.

While the exact ratio of high carbon to high nitrogen materials doesn’t have to be exact, it does help to make sure that we don’t have too much of one or the other. You need to avoid using all one type of material like lawn clippings or leaves. Try about an even mix of brown and green materials for you composter, and it should heat up without overheating and smelling.

Breaking down the physical size of the pieces of compost material for your pile will help speed it up. This reduces the breakdown needed by the pile, and at the same time lets more of the internal structure of the material be exposed to the microbes. Reduce the size of the large stalks and branches with a pruner, and smaller pieces can be run through a lawn mower. You may want to buy a small chipper shredder to do a thorough job.

Composting one batch at a time is a good way to speed up your composter.  Once you have a pile working, start another pile or keep your kitchen waste in a compost crock or pail. Try putting a smaller bin or pail near the back door, and save up the kitchen materials for a larger batch to process.

The more often you can turn the pile, the more active it will be and the faster the compost will break down.  This has the dual advantage of bringing fresh composted material into the hotter center of the pile, while improving the air flow throughout the pile as well, refreshing the oxygen supply to the microbial activity in the hot middle of the pile.

The ideal moisture level is a pile that is like a damp cloth. Don’t allow it to get too wet, which can lead to a soggy slimy mess, while letting it get too dry will have things grind to a halt.  This can mean that sometimes you won’t be adding water, but shielding the pile from drenching rains. Try a few of these tips and turbocharge your composter this season.