The great turning
The benefits of turning your compost
There is both fear and mystique surrounding the turning of compost piles. Many people never turn their compost, but there are benefits to turning that are worth the effort.
Turning our compost gives three distinct benefits; aerating the whole pile, blending the different layers of ingredients and seeing what is happening right through the pile.
All the living things we want in our compost piles, from microscopic bacteria through to juicy earthworms, breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide.
Our compost piles need to have enough porosity (air space) in and between the compost ingredients to let the billions of creatures in our pile inhale and exhale freely.
Go on, give it a turn!
GYMbies Claudia and Lloyd help turn a pile of compost.
Photo: Allie Hanly
Turning our compost is not a substitute for getting that balanced porosity/airspace through the ingredients we make the pile from, but turning a pile is like a great big ‘in breath’ for our compost, and a pile whose organisms were struggling to breathe will spring to life with a freshly turned pile.
Compost piles built over several weeks or months will have layers of different materials at different stages of decomposition. Turning our pile is a chance to blend these differences between the layers and bring the pile to a more consistent blend.
For hot composters, turning is also a chance to make sure the edges of the pile, which have not been as hot as the core, are in that hot middle zone of the pile when it heats back up.
As we turn our piles, we also get a chance to see what is going on right through the compost pile, a chance to see what’s working, or not in our pile and with our process.
A turn is the very best time to remediate an unhappy compost.
If our pile is soggy and stinky, a turn is the perfect time to cut some dry, carbon-rich materials, like coarse straw or aged woodchips, through the pile.
If the pile is dry or woody, wetting the ingredients as we turn and sprinkling some fine, nitrogen-rich materials like coffee grounds or fresh cut grass should help get our pile back into balance.
Why not give your compost a big breath, a blending mix and a health check with a good turn?
Next week we’ll have a look at tips for cool/slow composting.
AUTHOR: Joel Meadows
Joel Meadows works with *Yes In My Back Yard, (YIMBY), a community-scale composting initiative in Castlemaine and surrounds. Send questions or comments to hello@yimbycompost.com
This story was first published in Midland Express on 22/08/2023. Read it here