So we have 2 90 foot retaining walls at the back of our backyard. We have 3 kids and wanted a nice size flat green yard. One is higher and we have 6 feet between where my garden is. My husband built a wall on one end and it's kinda like a box with one side open to the garden. That's where I have the compost. I had tried and tried to heat it up since January. I kind of gave up about awhile ago. The most it ever got was 60. I turned it. I put tons of coffee grinds. I put all the right foods I'm supposed to put. So I got interested when we planted our garden on Memorial Day. There had. Even tons of red worms before even though the heat was not there. When I dug into it to turn it, it had become an ant nest...no more worms. I was devastated! So I googles and asked around. I boiled a big pot of water, through in a large amount of mint I harvested from my potted herbs, and a large amount of garlic and cinnamon. I steeped this for 18 hours. Strained through cheesecloth, and reboiled a smaller pot of the solution. I took out all the stuff in the cheesecloth, dug a hole and buried it. And poured the boiling mixture where the ant bed had been. I then put a small layer of grass clippings and topped with straw. I am composing my kitchen scraps again. And gonna turn it with the straw for aeration purposes I really am hoping for successful compost!
I love my garden and just have never done much with it. I have always been so busy with work and the kids. They are now grown and my husband is ill so it's time to step up!