Some people like to see the "smoking" effect of a hot compost pile but the reality is that, even if you don't see that, your compost pile is still working. It just may take longer. That doesn't mean you have to leave it all dry or all wet, though. Your description of the moisture level sounds about right. You can keep the ratio anywhere from 4:1 up to 30:1 for browns to greens. There is a large leeway because compost happens. People don't get it exactly right based on some book-learning, but they still end up with compost. There are people who will mulch leaves and others who don't, and they all still get compost. When the compost is a good mix of crumbly, dark stuff that you don't recognize what it was before, then you can say that part is done (though some people would at least give it a few months or more to get there). There may be other sections of the compost pile that are not done, so those you can leave in longer if you have just 1 pile or put them to another pile to redo. You don't need to cover the compost pile. If draining and aeration is good in the pile, then rain should be fine. If you know the stuff that went into your compost, then it should be safe for your plants. It may still not have all the different levels of trace resources that plants need, but that is where you will learn more and add in variety of materials or mix with other additives when you are ready to use it.

Zone 4a and this will be my fifth year doing this. I start around new years, typically with hardy perennials in my zone, shurbs/trees and seeds that i don't really care about (e.g. old seeds). I typically wait until late February to start putting out a lot of my annuals, and I leave the following til the end of march or early april: zinnias sunflowers ornamental millet abutilon dolichos lablab morning glories 4 o'clocks cosmos and pretty much anyhting tropical in origin Most of these will sprout if sown earlier, but their foliage is sufficiently tender that I lose them in the cold nights we have earlier in the winter/spring. If I wait til then, they typically don't pop til mid april or later and i typically don't have to worry about the seedlings freezing then.

Well, what I finally tried... I boiled the peels in water with a little baking soda (now I'm not certain I should have used the baking soda but I noticed that many marmalade or kumquat recipes say to use it for the first soak in hot water so I tried. Anyone know what the baking soda is for in some of the recipes?) Anyway, I boiled the skins a bit and then drained and cooled them so I could use a spoon to scoop out more of the bitter white stuff. Do this very gently as the skins are more fragile after cooking for a little while. I didn't time this very closely but a few minutes or so seems to work. So, I scraped out as much of the white pith as I could. With our dancy tangerines there isn't very much white stuff but when I tested the first peal without removing the white stuff it had a really strong bitter aftertaste. After cleaning the cooked peel cups I then boiled them gently in simple syrup. I didn't really time in. I just kept an eye on them and removed them when they started becoming a little transparent. I let them drain. They are tricky to handle as they like to stack themselves up in the boiling syrup. After they drain a bit or loose some of their stickiness, I shook them in a ziplock bag with some sugar and placed them in the dehydrator on the top rack with a tall dome lid to allow enough space for them. They are cute little cups, Now I need to figure out what to do with them. I made some tangerine marmalade (just a really small batch, two full 12 oz jars processed and one partial jar I'm taste testing as I write.) Tasty. I think I need to test my candy thermometer though as this stuff has jelled up very well even though the thermometer never got up to the temp that I read is needed for our altitude. We are at less than 500 feet above sea level so I would expect the appropriate temp to be over 215 F right? Anyway, it still seemed to work and I like the taste so all is well that ends well huh?

The addition of partially decomposed leaf matter certainly introduced a few of your localized species to the bin, and this is a good thing! Those species best suited to the bin environment will be the ones that ultimately dominate the system, with other species remaining present, but at lower population densities. Worms appreciate diversity! Earthworms can only produce young with members of their own species. There is no hybridization among worms, despite claims about "special hybrid worms" made on some internet sites. Wood ashes are as broken down as they are going to get, and are not recommended for a worm bin. Acidity is not a problem for eathworms as they are equally tolerant of pH levels from 4-9. Another internet-driven myth is that they need or prefer a neutral pH level, which is innacurate. Though they perform equally well across the entire pH range stated above, when given a choice they actually demonstrate a preference for a pH near 5-5.5, which is a pretty acid environment! Ph does not need to be either monitored and controlled in your bin, and wood ash would not be the recommended control agent if it were. Avoid this one. Kelly S