kqcrna said:I don't use the hose to add water to my compost. It's too hard to control, too easy to add too much. I moisten it with a sprinkling can. My bins aren't that big, and more than a gallon of water at once would be wetter than the proverbial "moist as a wrung out sponge"
Good point. Since I started hosing it down from a distance, it's gotten somewhere between a few pints and several gallons. Not very precise!
Tonight I'll sniff my pile that I've been "watering" lately. Since it has more N than usual, my nose ought to tell me if I've overwatered itt.
But it's so small and loose, and our summer is so dry, that it may drain and then evaporate so fast that even spraying it from a distance may not be too wet. Once it breaks down enough to be compact and "peaty" instead of just a heap of vines, it'll tend to hold more water.
During the Sept-May "rainy season", I sometimes park a wheelbarrow or tarp over the pile so it doesn't leach out or wash away!
