Make compost in a fraction of the usual time with the hot composting method

This week is hot composting week and I thought I’d share my experience of this composting method which I had some success with back in 2021.

I made a temporary compost heap with railway sleepers and since I was new to my garden, I was able to add lots of green matter all in one go. This is the most important aspect of a hot heap: add the material all in one go. Some of it I put through my garden shredder while the rest I chopped finely with secateurs. The railway sleepers created a shallow bin which meant that I could turn the heap regularly: this is essential to feed the bacteria which break the materials down.

Adding animal manure did wonders to speed up the composting process. Although the compost wasn’t fully broken down, I was able to use it on the bottom of a new raised bed after just six months, as opposed to about two years for compost made in the conventional way.

Credit: First published on https://www.mnrjournal.co.uk/