should I add my trash can compost to my small pile?

[gixxerific]

I have a trash can that has compostables in it. It has been going all year. there is some good stuff in there though at the bottom. I just started a pile in my garden cause I have room for it now. It is small and the season is wearing down, so I will have a whole lot more room there soon.

Should I add my trash can compost to my pile? I won't be adding it to the garden till the spring anyway's. I really don't need it I just got 2 yards of compost a few weeks ago and will be doing the same again either this winter or spring. I mainly do it for recycling purposes.

Thanks

[Diane]

Why not? Just mix it in. I always mix in the chunky- not yet done, leftover compost to the new pile.

[gixxerific]

I probably will Diane. I was really wondering if it would compost faster on the ground in a pile than in my can. It never seemed to get too hot in there for some reason.

[Diane]

Before I put enough browns in mine it composted very fast. Now it takes a little longer. It's on the ground and I find many red and earth worms in it. So many I worry about turning it.
So I do think it will compost faster on the ground.
Worms don't like it too hot, so you can have one or the other it seems.
Plus you'll have more air getting to it.
I cover just the top of mine because it rains so much and very wet compost isn't a good thing.

[rainbowgardener]

Well very wet compost isn't a good thing, but continuously damp compost is! I don't cover mine except that it is under a tree, so it doesn't get directly rained on. But all the rain we've had this year, my compost has run hotter than ever, which I think is a message to me that in the drought years I wasn't watering it enough.