If you shred or chop the raw material then it will decompose more quickly. With care, you can shred most material using your lawn mower or a shredding machine. Or you can roughly chop the material with a sharp spade.
Shredding or tearing old newspapers and cartons helps decomposition. You not want a thick, dense layer of dry material decomposing very slowly in the midst of your heap.
Add your material in reasonably significant quantities rather than in handfuls. Try to add a number of layers at once, for example grass clippings, manure and a barrow load of garden weeds.
Avoid thick or dense layers, these will prevent air circulation, bacterial activity and, in short, become slimy and smelly! If you have a mass of grass clippings, set some aside and add them later.
As you add more layers, water them gently. The compost heap should be as damp as a moist sponge. Try watering brown layers and not green layers as these are moist already.
Accelerators An accelerator is designed with our impatience in mind, it is not an essential. You can buy compost accelerators and add them between your layers, or you can use animal manure, as above.
Never add cat or dog waste to the heap as this can be a health hazard.
Comfrey leaves are a natural accelerator that will speed the process. Given time, the heap will decompose anyway.
Cover the Heap When you bin or heap is complete, cover it with sacking, an old piece of carpet or some roofing material. Covers keep the heat in and the rain out. Some compost bins have a purpose built cover.
If your compost is not 'processing' as it should it could be too wet or too dry. A roof or cover over the compost bin to keep out the rain, or to reduce evaporation and drying sun, is the answer.
Turning the Compost You can turn the compost, turning one heap into an empty, neighbouring bin. This introduces more air into the mixture, helping decomposition. The textbooks advocate it, the experts say they do it, but many gardeners are too busy or don't enjoy the heavy work. So this one is up to you!
Then you just wait, after three to six months the original contents will no longer be recognisable. Your raw heap should have settled into a smaller pile of fresh smelling 'humus' or compost. You can toss anything that hasn't quite made the transition into your current bin, and spread or dig the rest into your garden.
Perennial weeds are great green matter for composting
Shred or chop raw material and it decomposes more quickly
Other Things you Need
bin or space for a compost heap
garden fork (for the energetic who wish to turn their heap!
tarpaulin, wooden lid or carpet to cover the heap
accelerator (optional)
Using Seaweed The best way to use seaweed, including kelp, is to put it through the compost heap. Chop it and then mix with other plant material and kitchen waste - don't add it as a solid, single layer.
Smaller seaweeds can be added directly to the garden or used as a mulch, depending on how important the look of the garden is! You don't need to wash off the salt first
Win's small urban bin
Soaking Wet or Dusty Dry? If you are finding that your compost is not 'processing' as usual blame the weather. Compost needs to be moist, much like a damp kitchen sponge.
In very wet weather compost heaps may simply be too wet for the aerobic organisms decomposition needs. Slimy smelly compost results. The answer is a roof or cover over the heap to keeps out incessant rain.
Compost that is dry and dusty needs additional water to achieve the desirable moisture content needed for those same aerobic organisms. Use the garden hose or water saved from downpipes, and cover to reduce evaporation and the sun drying your compost heap out.
The best way to use seaweed, including kelp, is to put it through the compost heap. Chop it and then mix with other plant material and kitchen waste - don't add it as a solid, single layer.
Win's small urban bin
Serious three-bin system