Well, that was quick. On Friday, I made the heap; on Saturday, I watered it; today, when I was walking by, I thought the colors on the greens were starting to go a bit off, and it sagged significantly. I poked it with my finger and it was warm. So I poked it with a thermometer and it was really warm.
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I have zero experience in making hot compost this way, so this is new info to me. I did not expect the heap to heat up so fast. A quick Google search tells me this is at the lower level of optimal temperature already. I am planning on turning it over on Friday, and maybe I will add more material (from the other, haphazard heap) to it, too.
I had an analog thermometer that I could poke in the compost and leave it there to see the temp whenever I walk by, but I cannot find it. Bugger.
steamin’ hot garbage hoo-boy!
Years ago I did open heaps like yours. They heated up rapidly, and did a good job so long as they were big enough (yours is). Now I have a more complex system. One part is a bin full of leaves, into which I fork grass clippings. The leaves are mostly native big leaf maples, whose leaves compact into big plates if left on their own, so this process both absorbs all the clippings and breaks up the leaves. By mulching time in the spring I have decent leaf mulch.
@Bébé Mélange, it steamed this morning. Outside temperature was just 8°C, and gentle steam rose from the pile at the spot where I measured the temperature.
@rwiess, I tried to play with a different, four-heap system for slow composting, but it did not work. Mostly because at that time, I was working in Germany and I had very little time to work in the garden. I ended up with the simplest of composting systems out of necessity, and I won’t complicate it, although I do believe you get superior results.