C. when the core cools and decomposition slows
You and your family are probably already recycling glass, paper, plastic, and aluminum. Reducing what we put in landfills helps everyone.
Another way to reduce what you put into the garbage is composting your vegetable waste. That includes grass clippings and kitchen scraps like egg shells, vegetable peels, even paper towels, but not meat or bones. Keep a container under your sink where you can collect the scraps for the compost.
Make a pile of this material in an out-of-the-way place in your backyard. Keep it away from wooden fences. Cover the pile of "green" waste with a roughly equal amount of "brown" waste like dry leaves or shredded newspaper. Every time you put on green waste cover it with a layer of brown waste.
As the pile grows, the green waste at the center begins to heat up and break down. This is called decomposition. This heat at the center of the pile is caused by bacteria and can reach over 160 degrees. Over the course of a few weeks, that heat spreads into much of the rest of the pile. After four or five weeks, the core cools off and decomposition slows down. At that point, you need to use a garden tool called a turning fork to flip the pile. This turns the pile inside out and allows the decomposition to heat up again. This second pile will be much smaller than the original pile and will not get as hot as the first one.
Start a new pile of green waste in the same spot as the first pile. When it’s time to flip this new pile, the second pile will be ready to put into your garden. If you’re not ready to use it right then, you can just flip it with your turning fork into a third pile. This pile will continue to decompose at a very slow rate until you’re ready to use it.
Not only do you get free compost for your own garden, by using leaves, grass clippings and kitchen scraps, you also keep hundreds of pounds of garbage from going into the landfill.
5
According to the passage, when should you flip the compost pile?
A.
when the turning fork slips easily into the pile
B.
when the leaves on top have turned brown
C.
when the core cools and decomposition slows
D.
when you're ready to start your spring garden
1 answer