Friday, February 22, 2013

Winter Composting

The best things about composting in the winter are the lack of stink and absence of wasps!  I deliberately keep our back-door compost bucket small so the contents don't get a chance to go slimy, but that means I have to empty it frequently.  My compost piles are inconveniently situated up by the old veggie garden site. Now we don't have any dogs to break the trail, it's up to me to wade through the snow to the piles.  Even though there's not much bacterial action going on I think it's worth adding material to the heap instead of putting the scraps in the garbage. I don't worry too much about the "browns to greens" ratio in the winter as it's hard to come by any brown matter.  The piles start to melt out quickly in the spring especially if I shovel off as much snow as possible.  The active one soon gets going again and I can turn it and add different materials to get the balance right, the heap I finished last fall will be ready for the spring garden while the other will be getting hot.




It may look vile to you, but in my mind it's a magic potion of goodness and I feel like I'm getting something for nothing.  Think of it as baking a cake for your veggies; you gather ingredients, stir them all together and let it cook.  My spuds definitely appreciate the extra nourishment and effort!

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