Hotting up

The title of this column doesn't refer to spring. That's still a month off, and this week's night freezes remind us that winter didn't drop its whole payload in December.

I'm talking about compost becoming hotter and more active. That's been happening to an unprecedented degree - only to lose its momentum at a critical time.

It was thrilling when Pile A, the construction of which I documented in the Journal's Real Estate Guide published last week, reached 160 degrees. But the directions I had given while composting that pile turned out to be wanting: there was not enough high-nitrogen content...