It might be kind of shallow, but I have gotten hot compost when my 1 cu yard bin was only half full.

Any aspect could be "off"- moisture, C:N ratio, could need aeration, it's hard to say. Sometimes you just have to fiddle around and change things until it works. Generally, lots of N will get it cooking in the presence of enough air, carbon, and moisture. Grass clippings usually do it for me. And I usually flip the pile every 1 or 2 weeks.

Karen

It is possible that the pile is too shallow. It could still be possible to get a pile that shape to heat but it may be more challenging.

With enough Nitrogen and appropriate amount of moisture and air a pile will heat. If there isn't enough carbon to balance the nitrogen it will stink. A small bag/pile of grass clippings will get hot even when shallow. You might be able to get your pile going if you add more nitrogen like grass clippings, coffee grounds, or urine. The challenge might be how best to mix it in and keep things from smelling with a pile that shape.

I only seem to get hot compost about once a year. I compost all of my plant materials that accumulate from deadheading, fall cleanup, etc. It sits and doesn't do much over the winter.
In the spring, when I can get some grass clippings, I take the winter stuff, fork it into another bin, layering it with the green grass clippings. Talk about heating a pile...I can usually use this stuff in a month or so. This is the only time I get much heating in my pile, but that's ok..

I know my stuff is composting without the heat.. so I just remain patient. I use wire bins, mine are about 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide.

Thanks for these responses. It sounds like the shallowness isn't the problem. Actually, I thought I had plenty of nitrogen in there from all the plant clippings. I think the only browns I have are the shredded leaves. In any case, it doesn't smell. Maybe I'm just not turning it enough -- I admit I don't look forward to that job.

lynnem, next spring I'm going to do what you do -- layer in what's there with new grass clippings.

thanks again for all your thoughts.

I don't turn my compost, too much work.

Compost only "needs" to get HOT if you are composting something that needs to be heat treated. Like diseased plant material, weed seeds, or any of the so called compost "no-nos" like meat, dairy, human, dog, or cat manure.

Compost heating up will help speed up the process but most things will break down eventually even in a cool pile. Turning can also help speed up the process but if you are patient, then that is not necessary either.

I would make the pile a little higher and I would drape a leaf bag over the top of it to keep heat/vapor in.

My pile gets too hot too quickly; too much grass clippings.

I think covering it is a good idea -- I was thinking maybe with straw...

Actually, I wouldn't mind it staying cold except I figured it would just take too long to decompose (a couple of years?). I was hoping to use at least some of it next spring.

tclynx, how long does your cold pile need to break down? I'd love to not have to turn the darn thing at all.

Pretty much an amateur but I'm a cold composter in Zone 4, too, except on the occasions I can trade my larger twigs and things I don't normally throw in my compost for a couple of big bags of fresh lawn clippings from the city compost site. Boy, the valuable stuff people give to the city! I don't get grass clippings from my own considerable lawn as it's mulched fine and left in place.

With all the leaves, grass, garden cuttings, fall clean up, coffee grounds, fruit and vegetable scraps, shredded paper, and some water, etc. I can turn out one very good sized load of compost every year. When my open bin is loaded to the gunwales, I don't do much if any turning because it's just too hard for me when the materials are pretty much still in their original state.

There's a considerable amount of breaking down going on over the winter and in the spring when everything thaws, the pile is much easier to dig into. I'll churn it up every week or two through the spring and early summer and by late summer I have compost; and really nice compost at that. I'm satisfied being able to make one large batch a year - it's more than enough to topdress all the gardens and some thin spots in the lawn.

you can speed up the composting by putting leaves and grass clippings on top. it insulates the composting.

barbaranh,
My compost pile actually gets very hot (at least in the active portion of it) because we humanure compost. It is a continous pile that we add to for a year (or until the bin is full whichever comes first) and then we let it age for 8 months to a year. In a cooler climate the aging should be allowed to age the full year. Anyway, we don't turn the pile. It gets a little stirring since you need to deposit new additions to the pile into the hot top center and then cover it over with more cover material.

The key ingredient for the hot humanure compost is the urine I believe. One summer we were staying at my grandmother's house (in zone 4 or 5 I think) where there is only one toilet and at the time the well didn't re-charge quickly so flushing was only allowed for #2. Three of us took to peeing in the chamber pots and emptying them into the leaf pile. (This pile was only leaves/pine needles garden waste, some kitchen waste, and urine. No poo.) It only took about three weeks of this before the compost was at 160 F. That pile didn't get turned and was allowed to sit for about 10 months before I spread the contents under some trees and shrubs. There were still recognisable pine needles and leaves from around the edges of the bin but much of what was in the center and bottom was like dirt or at least very nice leaf mold. since I was just mulching with it, that is just fine. There were lots of big fat earthworms in that pile too.

As to how long a cool compost pile will take to break down, that really depends on the ingredients and climate. If the input is stuff like leaves and grass clippings then You can really use the stuff when you are ready to, don't worry about waiting till the ingredients are unrecognisable, especially if you are top dressing with it. If you are tilling it in then you don't want too much carbon material to be recognisable as it will still require nitrogen to finish breaking down and if you bury it, it will compete with your plants for that nitrogen.

I don't know how well this answered any questions but there it is.

Here is a link that might be useful: Humanure Handbook

tclynx, thank you for all that info. I'm leaning towards just letting the pile decompose and starting a new one on the other side of the property. Next spring, if the first one isn't ready, I'll spread what's there on the top of the gardens (without tilling it in, thank you) and maybe put a layer of cedar mulch over it make it look nice.

I haven't been saving things like tea bags and egg shells -- they seem like such a small addition to make any difference, but I'm starting to change my mind about that. Everything adds up. Now if I could just get my husband to pee in a pot, then maybe between the two of us we'd get something going out there!

Thanks everyone for all the great info.