Another 2020 To-Do List Item: Aeration In Compost Pile

Via Dummies.com - Adding a pipe to aid in air flow of a compost pile.  This is not my photo - original here. 

With Winter setting in hard, my mind continues to be on the yard and garden and things that I would like to do in 2020.  In my 2019 Yard and Garden To-Do List Scorecard, I included some items in the bottom of the post that are a starting point for my 2020 list.  This post is to remind myself of another item that should be on that list:  adding a pvc pipe to aid in aeration of our compost pile. 

From this Dummies.com post - comes this idea of adding a piece of PVC pipe with holes bore into it to add air flow (and even water flow to keep the pile wet) to a compost pile.  That image at the top of this post isn't my image - it is from that very Dummies.com post.  

The last time I looked at my compost pile (we have a 3 bin system) was when I had thrown in about half of our Fall leaves and began to use the second bin for storage of carbon (leaves).  To speed up the decomposition, I'm going to try to add some nitrogen (likely Milorganite) this Winter and try to turn it a couple of times - if I get myself a new pitchfork. 

One other tip that I found via The Compost Gardener is not using too big of a pipe:

A great option is using PVC pipes drilled every few inches with 1/2 inch or 1 cm size holes. Use about 2 inch pipe. Larger pipes have a tendency to cool the pile down too much.

2" pvc pipe is largest pipe that will provide some air, but not slow the decomposition down too terribly much.  Good to know!