Corrugated Iron Compost Bay - Update - Progress So Far!

A few months back I posted on Hometalk that we built a 3 bay compost system out of scrap corrugated iron sheets and some timber. Well a couple of months on this is how it is looking. The bay on the right needs turning but has already been turned several times and breaking down nicely. It did reach 64 degrees Celsius which is higher than the 50 degrees needed to kill off any weed seeds. The thermometer is a cheap aquarium thermometer (cost a dollar or so) inside a glass jar with the sensor on a wire that is attached to a stick that you push into the centre of the heap to gauge how hot the pile is getting. Not much longer to wait I think before this one will be completely broken down into nice chocolate brown soil for use on the garden. The pile on the far left is one in progress which I turned this morning and added a little blood and bone and some garden lime to the pile. Our neighbour across the road contributed 2 full wheelie bins of garden prunings from his Photinias which my husband put on the lawn and mowed over to break them into smaller bits so they will break down faster. The middle pile is the weeds from this same neighbour. I put the weeds in the middle bay to wait till it all turns dry and brown before adding to the left hand pile as this pile is already too nitrogen rich. I believe the nitrogen / carbon ratio needs to be 25% nitrogen (green stuff and coffee grounds which I collect from the local café weekly) and carbon (brown stuff including dried lawn clippings and prunings and leaves and newspaper and cardboard).