- Why dig up the compost?
- The best time to dig
- Working with two compost heaps
- How to properly turn over the compost
So that the compost is available quickly and contains a lot of nutrients, it needs appropriate care. This includes digging, which takes place at least once a year. When should digging be on the agenda and how do you go about it?
Compost should be turned over once a year
Why dig up the compost?
Compost rots very unevenly. The temperatures are highest inside, so that the composting takes place much more quickly there.
By digging, mix the components well together. This stimulates the microorganisms particularly strongly.
Incidentally, you also make unwanted compost residents such as rats uncomfortable staying in the compost heap.
The best time to dig
How often you turn over the compost is a matter of time and effort. But once a year you should grab a shovel.
The best time for the first digging of the year is spring, after the compost has thawed.
Then you will have ready compost available in the spring for fertilizing your garden plants.
Working with two compost heaps
Experienced gardeners have at least two compost heaps in the garden. The almost ripe compost is stored on one, while the other is freshly filled.
When digging up, the only partially decomposed components are sieved out and given again for composting.
How to properly turn over the compost
When digging up the compost, it is important to sift out mature compost and shift the layers from outside to inside and from top to bottom. This creates an even compost. The compost matures faster.
- Put the compost in shovels on a sieve
- sift out mature compost
- re-stratify immature material
- “inoculate” with mature compost
The sifted out material, which has not yet fully decomposed, is placed on the empty composter. Dump a few scoops of mature compost on top. This so-called "vaccination" acts as a jump-start and brings the beneficial microorganisms into the new compost heap.
The mature compost is either worked into the soil or spread around the garden plants.
tips
A large garden sieve is essential for proper composting. The finished compost falls through the coarse-meshed sieve while unripe material remains on top. You can easily make the sieve yourself from rabbit wire and wooden slats.