Composting in Winter

[IowaLez]

Hey Folks,

Those of you who live in frozen Winter climes, how do you compost your kitchen waste in the Winter? I don't know what to do with my coffee grounds and food scraps now that it is frozen outside. I have been throwing them away, but I hate doing that. I tried worms in the basement once and that went fine until Summer came and it got too warm for them and that was a mess.

What else can I do with wet food scarps?

[paintboy]

You can still put your scraps outside on the compost pile. When spring comes they join the rest of the pile in making gardening gold.

[SueMc]

We just keep adding scraps to the pile. I continue to add horse manure to the heap all Winter. The pile gets turned with the tractor when everything thaws in the Spring.
Are you worried about not being able to cover your scrapes in the Winter? If that was the case for me, I'd get a big trash can with a tight lid for my scraps. It could sit outside and then be added to your pile when the weather warms.

[willow_girl]

Just keep throwing them on the pile! If it looks unsightly, get some sawdust and throw a layer over the top.

[fishhead]

I just throw my veggie scraps on a pile under some trees. When spring comes it starts to break down again.

[IowaLez]

Thanks, folks, for your replies.

The problem is our outdoor compost pile is way out beyond our Morton Bldg where it can't be seen, and it is a hike thru quite a lot of snow to get to it now. So I think we will do as SueMc suggested and put a large bin out in the building to hold the scraps until Spring.

[Paquebot]

Trash can could be a handful to move in the spring. Many use 5-gallon pails, of which everyone seems to have a few on hand. During the years when I had a large compost pile, anything dumped during the winter attracted every crow in the county. No problem since 1997 when I bought the big Compostumbler. Nothing can get at it now.

Martin

[KnowOneSpecial]

I have a large tub that we got from Sam's. It had cheeseballs in it and after the kids ate it we just started filling it with scraps. It sits in a sunny part of the kitchen and it's kinda fun watching all of the stuff rot away. You learn really fast how to open and toss stuff in! When it gets full I dump it on the compost pile.

[Forerunner]

I prefer Willow Girl's approach.
Sawdust is always a good thing in a compost pile.

I find that, if I pay extra attention to my C/N ratio in the fall, my winter piles stay hot, and that heat will work it's way into any new material applied, especially if the insulating layer of sawdust is applied.

*stern look and stuff* Now, if your pile is just too small to heat......who's fault is that ?

[Danaus29]

I've got a bottomless composter. It's all the way at the bottom of the hill though, over 100 feet from the house. When the composters are available again in spring I plan on getting another and putting it closer to the house for winter use. Just dump the stuff in. It will decompose when the weather warms.

[7thswan]

Put it right in your garden.

[Danaus29]

Putting it right in the garden would be a good idea if you don't live where picky people can see your garden or where critters don't eat your leftovers.

If you dig a hole before winter hits you can put a board or piece of cardboard over the hole and use it as an in-ground composter. Too late for that here.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Dig a trench in the garden in the fall. During the winter, gradually add the scraps to one end of the trench, working your way down and putting dirt over each addition.

http://organicgardening.about.com/od...nchcompost.htm

[strawhouse]

IowaLez, thanks for the great post!

I have the same dilemma. Waaaayyy to much snow to trudge out to the compost pile.
I tried a plastic garbage bin last winter, it was such a nasty heavy mess by the time spring came around, we won't be doing that again.

I'm thinking about a big tumbler, like paquebot said.
Seems like alot of good suggestions here, but, if your like me, there's just too much snowfall inbetween compost dumpings for anything to break down. It all just freezes solid then turns into a gooey sticky mess when things start to warm up.

I'm still a newbie when it comes to composting, I'm gonna keep my eye on this post to learn!

[Paquebot]

Originally Posted by strawhouse

I'm still a newbie when it comes to composting, I'm gonna keep my eye on this post to learn!

I'm afraid that you may not learn much more than already presented. Unless the pile is in a heated building or immensely huge, decomposition pretty much ends for everything about mid-November around here and resumes in May. In the past, I did have huge piles which often had a little steam venting from the very peak all winter but they were piles which started out almost 6' tall. In the case of my tumbler, what's in now is what I call the winter batch. Fall batch was dumped around Thanksgiving and replaced with only white oak leaves and white pine needles, both dry and finely shredded. Now there will be 5 months of only kitchen scraps. I did have some heat in it until a week ago as I turned it daily just to keep working in whatever came from the kitchen. Probably still dry enough to turn but will leave it alone until sometime in April. Then there will be one day when I find that everything is thawed enough to turn. Two days later the core temperature will be 160ºF and another super batch on the way to becoming part of the hole mix for tomatoes a month later.

Martin

[laughaha]

Just dump in your closest garden be in veg or flower or at the base of trees.

What I do if I don't wanna walk to the compost pile- Get a bag of mulch/leaves/sawdust whatever. Dump compost whereever (for me it would only be orange peels and coffee mainly as I have chickens) then toss some of your mulch over it to hide the mess. Then done. Rinse and repeat. I wouldn't put mouse edibles in the flower beds right next to my house though. That would be asking for trouble.

Or you can just toss it all into the chicken pen and let them compost it for you.

[JuliaAnn]

What you need is a trebouchet (sp?). Position it so that it flings your scraps over the top of your Morton building and onto the top of your compost pile. Wah lah. Problem solved.

[meanwhile]

Oh no! Don't throw it out! Just keep dumping it on your compost pile. Next spring, when it does thaw out, just turn the pile and mix in some straw or other dried up matter.......like we use wood chips sometimes or rotten straw......anything dry to mix it.

We dump used paper in our pile too........read up on the Extreme Composting link. You can compost most anything that will rot.

Sorry.......just saw your problem about hiking to the pile. I have that same problem here and I just set my compost bowl out on the porch, and let it freeze. Then, when my sons or the husband is here, they hike out to the pile and dump the frozen glob on the pile for me. A few times, I have stuck stuff in the freezer, let it freeze, then when older sons are here, let them hike to the pile and dump stuff for me.

Good luck