Turn the compost: How to do it and why it is important
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If compost is to be turned into valuable humus particularly quickly, it must be turned over regularly. This mixes the ingredients, prevents rotting and stimulates the microorganisms in the compost to perform at their best. This is how it is done!
There are no general rules on how often compost should be turned over.
Whether once or twice a year depends solely on the mood of the gardener.
However, once a year is compulsory - diligent gardeners even transplant the compost every two months.
And with good reason: the more often compost is turned over, the faster the rotting process goes.
Why you should turn compost
The ideal time to transplant compost for the first time is in early spring, once the compost has defrosted.
In this way you can create a certain basic order and provide the garden with valuable permanent humus before the season starts.
It is the millions upon millions of micro-organisms and the countless earthworms that turn garden waste into valuable compost.
For this they need heat, moisture and air - lots of air.
Turning is so important because the compost is supplied with oxygen, the ingredients mix again and - not to be underestimated - the volume is significantly reduced.
Properly applied compost produces the necessary heat itself, as a metabolic by-product of the many helpers who process the organic substances in the compost.
A place in full sun, however, damages the compost, it prefers to stand in the shade.
Turn the compost: A guide
Wait for a dry day before moving the material so that it neither clumps nor sticks to the bucket.
From a wooden frame covered with rabbit wire you can build a sieve yourself.
In addition to the compost sieve, you need a shovel, a digging fork or a manure fork.
This is the only way to move the undecomposed components in the compost at all.
Place the sieve next to the compost in shovel width.
Foto: MSG/Martin Staffler 01 compost sieve
Turning over compost is a bit like digging up in a bed: the bottom comes up, the top comes down.Work your way through the compost layer by layer from top to bottom and throw the material onto the sieve.Already finished compost will fall through, greenery that has not been sufficiently decomposed will stick and wander back to the compost.The sieve also catches stones, remains of flower pots and coarse branches from the compost.Ideally, you should have a second compost container in which you pile up this still too fresh material to form a new compost heap.
Foto: MSG/Martin Staffler 02 Turning compost
One or two shovels with mature compost serve as a starting aid for the restacked compost heap and inoculate it with microorganisms,who also get to work immediately.If you then water the compost heap from time to time during dry periods,he passes his final exam a good seven months later: It is dark brown, fine crumbly and smells of forest soil.Should composting be faster,you move it every two months.If you create a completely new compost, you can expect fresh humus after nine months.
Compost makes itself fine for the garden
The fine stuff goes into the garden, the coarse stuff into the compost or into the trash can.
Before mature compost is allowed in the garden, it must undergo a thorough cleaning.
The sieve separates half-rotten material or raw compost from the mature compost and sorts out nut shells or coarse pieces of branches.
The degree of inclination of the sieve determines how fine the compost should become: The steeper the slope, the finer the compost will be.
Note that even mature compost is often full of weed seeds.
The temperatures of 60 degrees Celsius and more required to kill the weeds are almost never reached in open compost heaps in the garden.
They are much too small for that.
Therefore, if possible, work the mature compost into the soil and do not just spread it over the surface - otherwise the seeds will germinate quickly.
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