Hi all!
Well, I'm starting my 2nd year of gardening. First year went ok, but hopefully I'm a bit more educated this year. Now if I could only get rid of the grubs that have taken over my square foot gardening!
I do have one question...I started a compost bin last year. But I have not turned it all winter long. Is it still useable? I was considering transferring it to another container because its hard to turn in the trash can I have it in now. Should the consistency be more dirt like or did I ruin my compost by not turning it during the winter months? AND... do I just mix it in with the dirt that is in my square foot gard. boxes?
Thanks soo much for all your help. I should have been here last year!

I don't worry about turning mine; I just don't have the time. One thing I do tho, and it's kind of a pain but I only have to do it once a year, is sift it thru a wire mesh sifter thingie that we made ourselves(smaller and stronger than chicken wire). That way the big stuff gets put back into the compost bin and the finer stuff (looks a lot like potting soil) is put directly into the garden. The other option is to have 2 bins and stop adding to one so that is can decompose uniformly. I don't have space for 2 so I do it in a single bin and sift thru it in the Spring. Last year I probably netted the equivalent of 7 bags of compost...yea!

Hope that helps!

I don't think its possible to ruin compost. You can delay the decay, but I don't think you can ruin it.

The folks on the gardening boards can give you more information on how to make and use compost.

Turning speeds up the compost operation, not turning won't hurt it. If you are in a really cold area it will slow down if the temperatures stay below freezing for more than a few days especially if it isn't a large pile.

I dont turn mine but Ive watered it some and that seemed to speed up the process alot.

quote:

Originally posted by persimmonmama:
I dont turn mine but Ive watered it some and that seemed to speed up the process alot.

In your climate definitely true. In more humid climates whether you need to add water depends upon your composter design and the type of materials you place in it. I rarely have to water mine because so much of what I put in it is wet, mainly kitchen scraps. I struggle to find enough browns once we're done with fall leaves so I put the output of our paper shredder into our compost to balance out the wet and the dry. Right now I'm using an "Earth Machine" compostor but I don't care for the design, after a few years it tends to come apart where you join the two pieces together.