As winter looms, how does compost survive? Is there a way to keep compost from turning into a frozen mess during colder months? Here are 5 easy steps for easy winter composting!
If left alone, the microbes in your compost will begin to go dormant for the winter. At this point, some people start sending their scraps off to a municipal composting facility until spring. Others move their operation indoors and into a worm bin or use other indoor composting systems. Yet with these 5 simple steps, you can continue to maintain a compost outside in freezing winter temperatures.
Heat
Active microbes keep compost piles happy and warm. Kickstart microbe health by giving them a big, well-balanced fall meal. As outdoor temperatures drop, add a generous and well mixed meal of equal parts dry, brown materials like fallen leaves, and soft, high-nitrogen materials like grass clippings and kitchen scraps. Be sure to chop or shred everything into pieces that are no more than 2 inches long. Sprinkle with water as needed to moisten the mixtures, but be sure not to make them soggy.
If you have a lot more dry brown material like autumn leaves, and not much high nitrogen material, add something that is very high in nitrogen like alfalfa pellets or meal, cottonseed meal, or even your own urine.
Insulate
Once you have healthy and happy microbes keeping the compost warm, do something to keep that warmth within your pile or bin. Some commercial compost bins already have insulation but in really cold temperatures they may still need more. Wrap your compost bin in a few layers of bubble wrap, foil, and bubble wrap insulation sheets. You can also use bags filled with autumn leaves, or straw bales to insulate the sides.
Lid
Remember to top off your insulation job with a tarp or some sort of insulated cover to help keep heat in and excess rain, ice, and snow out. You can put a pile of dry leaves on top of a tarp to create a great insulated lid. You can also tap into solar power and cover the pile with a large sheet of Plexiglas or a retired glass shower door to create a passive solar heater.
Feed It
Keep finely chopped or blended kitchen scraps in a covered container. Once a week or so mix the scraps with an equal amount of chopped straw, wood shavings, shredded dry leaves, or torn-up newspaper, and add the mixture to your outdoor composter.
Relax
Depending on your climate and how much material you have to add during the winter, your compost may cool down or freeze in the lowest temperatures. Don’t fret! As the temperatures warm up, so will your compost and it will wake up from dormancy and begin working again. While your pile is dormant, you can either start adding mixed scraps to the top, or store scraps in a cool (not freezing) area until your outdoor compost thaws.
Ariana Marisol is a contributing staff writer for REALfarmacy.com. She is an avid nature enthusiast, gardener, photographer, writer, hiker, dreamer, and lover of all things sustainable, wild, and free. Ariana strives to bring people closer to their true source, Mother Nature. She graduated The Evergreen State College with an undergraduate degree focusing on Sustainable Design and Environmental Science. Follow her adventures on Instagram.
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