Yes there is, although few people turn the compost that often. Most of the time new compost folks want to know why their tumbler/pile/composting method is not getting the heat they have heard about. Tumbler advertising may say temps can reach 165F. But temps will only rise quickly and to high point (say 130F to 165F in the warmer months) if the following conditions are met: 1) pile is big enough to retain heat 2) moisture is in proper range 3) small particle size 4) correct mix of C:N materials (greens to brown) I have had core (center of pile, that is where the compost thermometer is stuck for the best reading) temp of 165F after two days. Am I correct is thinking that a Earth Machine is more the slower digester type than the faster tumbler type? Some people will warn against high temps like 165F. But there is a big difference between a backyard composter with a starting core temp of 165 and a commercial operation with the same 165F. My bins are 4'by8'by2' high. If I get a starting core temp of 150F in the middle soon after making my compost pile of finely shredded fall leaves mixed with a little grass, all the better. So I turn the pile, and water it a bit. Each day I stick my $20 compost thermometer in, and check the core temp. And I turn and water as necessary. BUT each time it is a bit lower. So after a few week or months, the first stage of composting is thru. But should this be described as compost of 150F? No way. How about a mix of cold and hot compost, that would be more accurate.

Every day, if you have it. I use knee high stockings but only after I've been seen with them in the garden of course. 3pr/$1 at the $1store. Remove both ends of a can, inserted into the stocking while you add a pound or two of compost/manure. Use your fav search engine for many thousand more ideas. Then compile your very own 'recipe'. I don't think you'll go wrong. Good Luck, Gumby_CT

I've given up on lavender in the ground. I now grow it in a large clay pot that I can move back under the porch roof if we're having a particularly rainy season and control the water it receives. I used to have one growing in the ground, at my old house, and it sulked and did nothing for 3 years until we had a summer of drought (summer of 2007 in central North Carolina) and it took off and flourished. Lesson learned. I only water the lavender in the pot occasionally. Even after first planting it, it didn't get daily watering. I kept an eye on it and only watered it when it showed signs of wilting.

That having been said, for overseeding, you're going to have to water more often to get the seed to sprout. Seed that dries out is seed that dies. Regrettably, lawns that stay wet are lawns that get fungal diseases. You see the problem here. For seed, it will need to be watered about three times a day (even if under most coverings) to keep it appropriately damp. Underneath compost, that may be less often, but more water--depending on the compost, of course. Two would be the floor number. One is not going to be acceptable under most conditions, but there are certainly some exceptions. For how long that's required depends on the seed. In good conditions, rye usually sprouts in a week or so. Fescue, 10 days to 2 weeks. Kentucky bluegrass can be up to a month. Since you're talking about fall seeding, you've implied you have a transitional lawn and use northern grasses. Southern grasses will differ and are not generally fall sown. Of course, that can be even longer if the temperatures are particularly hot or particularly cold, and the clock also stops if the seed goes dry (this will also quickly kill germinating seed, as mentioned above). Post all that, cut back the watering slowly to let the new baby roots grow in, and let your adult lawn grow in roots it hasn't had to grow yet. Cut back to daily watering, then every other day in a week or so, every third day a week after that, and so on. See if it'll handle weekly watering the next year. Some lawns will, some won't. It does depend on your soil, the organic matter levels (OM hold water like nobody's business, it's like a sponge), and the lawn. I haven't watered since 2017 and mine looks good. Right now, we're 12 days with no rain and it's just starting to look dry in places, but my soil is tuned well for resources, the organic levels are kept very high, I keep it on the long side (short northern grasses are thirsty northern grasses), don't cut when it's dry (bleeding grass is grass that's losing water), and have bluegrass (one of the least drought-resistant grasses, actually, but it'll just go dormant if it does get droughty and come back when rains resume).