In article , Steve Wolfe wrote:

thanks for your outstanding post. Not sure if my pile is hot or not
yet...

As long as there's moisture, decomposition should happen. I (and others
that I know) take a lazier approach to composting: Throw it all in the
pile and forget about it. My pile is about 7 feet in diameter, and the
wire fencing is 3 feet high. I've occasionally got the pile to about two
feet high (maybe just a tiny bit more), but it shrinks back down before
too long. The top six inches don't really undergo decomposition in my
pile, because they dry out, but underneath where it's warm and moist,
nature takes its course. Others that I know who take the same lazy
approach as I do tell me that their experience is pretty similar.

With a relatively hot pile, you can get things pretty well decomposed in
as little as a few weeks. In a cooler pile, it could take a year. It all
depends on how quickly you want it to happen, and how much effort you're
willing to put into it.

steve



I have the same philosophy, I like things like that to run their
course almost by themselves.

i