Cold Weather Composting
October 9th, 2008
Filed in Compost
Tags: cold compost, Compost, fertilizer, organisms, season, winter
Animals and microorganisms that break down organic matter into compost rely heavily on temperature to help them. Heat acts as a catalyst, speeding up the composting process. Composting does not stop as the weather cools down, but there are some things you can do to make composting more successful in the cold.
Tips for Composting in the Cold
1) Add shredded leaves. You can buy a leaf shredder, or you can run over the leaves with your lawn mower and bag them. You’ll get some grass clippings intermixed, but grass clippings are good for compost, too.
2) Build an insulated compost pile! Use hay or straw bales to surround your compost pile to keep it toasty warm. Build a four or five foot hall hay bale wall and layer your compost materials inside. Cover the top with a piece of plywood. Don’t turn the pile during the winter. The bottom of the compost pile will contain largely finished compost. The top of the pile can be broken down and thrown in your regular hot compost pile in the spring. The “keeping it in” philosophy allows you to compost food scraps (vegetable matter only!) during the winter and keep animals out.
3) Put a worm bin under your sink. Worms create some of the best soil on earth! A small ceramic worm bin will digest your leftovers quickly so that you can efficiently break down your food scraps all winter.
4) Keep weeds out of your cold compost. Because the compost pile will not heat up enough to kill weed seeds, you will need to throw winter weeds into compost you intend to turn during the summer.
5) Compost in a cold frame. A cold frame is a kind of lean-to greenhouse. Think of it as a compost bin with a glass or plexi glass top. The clear top will let the sun in to heat up the pile, and help your compost finish faster.
Cold compost will have different characteristics than hot compost. It is, though, still a viable soil amendment, and just as beneficial to the soil.
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