Winter Composting: Should I Just Scrap It?
by Ginny Figlar Colón | November 14th, 2008 | Comments (9)
topic: Green Living | tags: composting
Nice … half-frozen veggie scraps molded together in a solid mass. Not exactly what I want to see in my compost bin. With at least five more months of cold weather before warmth and sunshine reappear, why do I even bother keeping the pile going?
- Me and my veggie scraps
Well, I guess I do know why. Diverting even a handful of potato skins from the trash gives me an unexplainable sense of satisfaction. (If you aren’t a composter, you just can’t relate to this strange obsession with vegetable scraps.)
So after filling my compost bin with a big batch of freshly raked leaves this weekend, I did a little online research to see what I could do to make it a wee bit more productive this winter.
Here’s my plan of attack:
1. Get a bigger under-the-sink kitchen compost bucket. Fewer trips through the snow will help me stay motivated to feed the outdoor bin all winter long.
2. Empty the compost bin now. Since decomposition slows considerably in the winter, the contents won’t shrink very fast and the bin can get overfilled in the process.
3. Save some leaves. I’m going to stockpile some of the leaves I’m raking now to periodically mix in with winter scraps. Some sites suggest using old tomato cages or covered garbage cans to hold the leaves.
4. Don’t turn the pile. Yep, it pays to be lazy all winter because turning a pile lets valuable heat out.
5. Break down the bits a bit more. Maybe I can get away with chucking a whole apple in the bin in the middle of the summer, but not when the thermometer is hitting negative numbers.
We’ll see if these extra steps make a difference come springtime. And, even if it doesn’t result in more compost, at least it saved some space at the landfill.
Click here to learn more about composting.
Great Post Ginny! I was actually pondering about composting this Winter, after a overfilled outdoor compost bin by January last Winter! I’m doing bokashi and strongly thinking about getting the inddor compost bin, if anybody has used it how good does it work?
I’ve used a wooden worm bin for years for winter kitchen composting. It’s a wood box on wheels which I keep in my basement walkout, an unheated but protected stairwell. I insulated a small space under the first step with foam insulating panels and put a small electric space heater next to the box. I keep it at 45-50 degrees. The wheels enable me to pull the box out when I need to add a batch of kitchen garbage. In the spring, I take the box outside and harvest the worm castings. (I can tell you how I do it in another post) Outside I have a small metal garbage can with the bottom removed. I taped plastic window screen to the bottom so the worms can’t get out and it doesn’t get soggy. The worms go in there and they’re ready to start the cycle all over again. It is an amazingly satisfying process and I’ve done it for 20 years!
these are some great tips i can give to my family and friends back on the east coast.
Yup, I always compost throughout the winter and really do nothing special. It all eventually composts down. I have 2 composters, though so that probably helps!
I am a diehard gardener with years of experience. I have volunteered many places and go garden tour hunting.
The ideal way to compost from my experience it to have a yard of horse manure dumped someplace on the property. Then, when you have kitchen scrap, go out there and dig a hole in the pile and cover it with more manure.
My worms are UNBELIEVABLE and create the best vermicompost. I didn’t build anything, I add leaves that you can just go over with a lawn mower to chop and add carbon/texture and then I put it on my 100 roses.
Another way to have a “hightech” looking composter is to go to HD or Lowe’s and buy a sheet of that lathing sheetmetal that people use to put stones on their house with.
Make a shape like a box and put in your leaves. It stands about 3 feet in a square shape and looks great. I have seen people make walls of leaves with it in a serpentine shape many feet long.
It is an excellent idea as well.
ps My garden kicks ass.
Actinomyacetes love oxygen. Turn that pile more often and it composts quickly. The temp. can go up pretty darn high and smoke. The more green (nitrogen) that you add to the brown (carbon) makes for more compost. Chicken manure and hair has lots of nitrogen. Leaves, when they are brown, of course add carbon. Don’t add grease cause it seals the actinomyacetes. The worms hate onions and they don’t like oranges or lemons.
I have spoken. :0
Living in Fargo (yep, we loved the movie!) I’ve found a way to compost throughout harsh winters. I line a 30-gal garbage can with a plastic trash bag and keep it right outside my kitchen door. I dump kitchen scraps all winter. Once temps begin warming up in the spring, I empty the contents into my two traditional composters. There’s a lot of “compost tea” (liquid) at the bottom of the bag) which is great for getting them going. This fall I’ve saved several bags of lawnmower-mulched clippings and leaves and will allow them to decompose on their own. With our severe negative temps, I’m not sure what will happen but it’s worth the time and little effort on my part to see if I have good soil next May!