cold weather compost

Surprisingly Still Hot

I took the temperatures of my compost piles this morning, and all piles were healthy even though each gave a different reading. I like to see each pile have a passing “fever,” and one pile — the one I most recently built — developed a temperature that I was glad to see reaching almost 150 degrees F.. This temperature, which my compost piles often maintain for a few days, is enough to cook to death virtually all pathogens, insects, and weed seeds.

I was surprised at that high temperature because Read more