That's odd - if its standing on the soil they usually come on their own. Try urine.

I'm not an expert, but I think worms make the best compost and you can't go wrong. I heard you need to add green, brown and keep it moist. Throw a couple scoops of garden soil on it. The microbes in it may "kick-start" the process.

If 'year one' is good and ready to go then just use it and put new material in the empty space. 'Year two' should just follow suite in its own good time and there is no need to spend money on added worms, unless it makes you feel good.

I agree; I never had to add worms, they find their way to the compost bin on their own - the red wrigglers.

Ok thanks guys. Will get on with scattering the ready compost around the garden. I assume this can be done throughout the winter? Also how thick should it be scattered?

Need some ready carbon source for the microbes. Take 2 tablespoons of molasses or karo syrup in one gal of water spray it on the compost and mix it in and as bathgate suggests, add a culture of garden soil.

What are the winters like in your where you live? Here we have freeze & thaw cycles.

Never heard of adding molasses or karl syrup to compost... pee on it if needed (or in a bucket and then dilute and pour on the compost). The weather this past summer was not great and therefore it could take longer for the vegetable matter to break down but it will!

Thank you Loosestrife and Bathgate. Winters have been very mixed here, the last one was mild but a few years back it was bitterly cold with lots of frosts and I lost quite few plants in my garden. I have no idea what this winter will bring us- don't believe in long term forecasts! I usually get a very accurate day to day forecast from my husband who is a pilot in the RAF and they have quite detailed (but not always accurate) forecasts.

Moon_growe - I have heard of the wee method before and my boys used to enjoy weeing on it in the summer when we were out in the garden! I was advised to keep a cover on it to keep the heat in- but people seem to be divided about that- cover or no cover?

OK I just asked because I wonder if you'd be better off just leaving the compost for now and waiting for early spring to work it in - just before planting. In the meantime, keep adding to it and let the worms do their bit. If it doesn't do anything, spray water on it and mix it around to get air into it. The process needs lots of oxygen.

Use to add karo syrup to certain growth mediums which I poured into petri dishes in order to aid in the growth of bacteria, fungi and algae which I wished to grow in the lab....these were my little gardens.....if it was good for them there it would be good for them in the compost bin I figured. I tried it and found the compost broke down faster. My only concern was that one day I would find thousands of ants swarming through the pile or a cloud of bees hovering over it but that never happened. No karo syrup? Molasses works just as well. Oh! Peeing is good too in that it provides these organisms with much needed nitrogen and moisture but a good carbon source is essential and that you don't get in urine unless you are an uncontrolled diabetic:)