Winter composting

I've wanted to start my own garden since I moved into my house, and this year is going to be the year I do it. I've ordered 5 varieties of rhizomes, bought a butt load of seeds, grow lights, and a seed starter kit. I bought a raised garden bed from HD, and a couple of planters. I'm not really sure how I"m going to go about getting everything in the ground yet, but I know my weak point is my soil. So I decided to start a compost heap.

My problem is, it's winter, and not even dead of winter yet. I bought miracle gro soil figuring on starting my compost heap, but then realized it's probably just going to freeze and not do anything. So I searched it out, and came up with a decent result. My best option for a winter compost pile is a large black rubbermaid container. I figure since it's black, the sun will heat it up during the day, and I"m hoping the activity in the bin will keep things moving during the night.

So has anybody ever done winter composting? I don't have room indoors, or I'd get a worm bin and not worry about it. My only fear is that the cold nights will freeze any activity in the bin, and my food scraps won't get broken down. I want to get this started now so when the spring comes, I have healthy soil to transplant to, and get my rhizomes going. So is the winter composting a terrible idea, or will it survive single digit temps?

I live where the winter nights can easily be -40. I out some of my compost into bags and throw it out into the snow over the garden. Of course it freezes and there is no activity, but when spring comes along it freezes and thaws and really breaks down so when the snow is gone I have beautiful compost to spread on the garden. It makes quite a difference to all of my plants, I would say.

B

I have pretty much the same situation. Just moved into a house in August and my wife and I wanted to start a garden next spring. We ended up buying a black plastic composter from HD and started filling it in November. It seems to be going pretty good so far.

The landfill here also gives away compost for free in the spring, so that may be something for you to look into as well in case it doesn't get composted enough.

I'm in Chicago - plenty cold here and on sunny days there's steam coming from my compost bin. Yeah, it's still cranking, just much slower than during the hot/humid summer. In the summer my whole process takes about 2 weeks. In the winter, probably closer to 3 months, but it still works.

A black bin is the way to go, and you can go easy on air holes since the activity is slower and you want to retain heat.

If you want to do worms, I'd dig out a small, shallow hole, put your compost on top, then cover with a black bin or black garbage bags - anything elevated will freeze the worms, they need to be closer to ground heat, imo. I've never done that though.

I have a compost tumbler that requires being emptied for winter.

That said, you're not going to get any real active composting in the winter. If you have somewhere to pile/store your scraps for the winter without the animals getting into it, that will work. Then, in the spring, try to get a nice mix of brown and green compost materials to get it going when temps are steadily in the 60's or warmer. I don't find my compost "composts" very well until daytime temps are in the 70's or 80's, but this is for fast-batch compost (as opposed to bin-based compost that tends to take significantly longer). I can turn out batches of compost in 3-4 weeks during the summer if I make sure to keep a little brown compost material around to get a good ratio.

Like tytanium and Randar, I'm in Chicagoland and I also compost. I throw all my spent grains in my composter- a supersized black concrete box I built. My friends bring all their spent grains and dump them in as well.

Sometimes the pile freezes, but sometimes it's warm in the middle and frozen on top. Come spring, when I turn it, the center is always black. If you have the space, I would dump stuff in all winter- even if it freezes. Come early summer, you'll have a head start on all the other gardeners.

I think composting, more than chemicals, has improved my hops and my garden.

I used to "heap pile" compost and had the best results that way weather it was winter or summer. In winter, the heap would be steaming as long as I got enough piled on to keep the core insulated. I have measured 120*F, in the dead of winter, in the center of the heap.

By spring, it was all ready minus a 6 inch layer over the top.

I also am in northern Illinois, and I most definitely compost! In fact, today I dumped the spent grains from a Bavarian Hefeweisen directly into my garden. The compost bin is starting to overflow...but come spring, that will get used quickly! And I am constantly amazed at the people who put lawn clippings or leaves at the curb for pickup. That's fertilizer, friends! Along with all the organic waste generated inside the house [coffee grounds, apple cores, egg shells, etc., etc., etc.].

glenn514

GilaMinumBeer, what hops have you had success with in our part of the world? You and I are really close, even though i moved to 167th and Western.

WortMonger said:

GilaMinumBeer, what hops have you had success with in our part of the world? You and I are really close, even though i moved to 167th and Western.

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That depends on your definition of success.

Thanks for the tips guys. I guess I shouldn't really be expecting much, since I realized that I don't have very much material going into the pile. If I put half a pound a day, that's a lot. Guess that gives me more incentive to eat fruits and veggies.

I bought two black 30 gallon rubbermaid containers from HD. I'm going to just put some good soil in them, dig a hole in the middle and dump in my material. It probably won't do anything till spring, but at least I"ll have a couple months worth of material when spring comes. Then I'll mix everything up and use it in my hop and veggie garden. In summer, I'll do the heap method, like Gila and many others use. In spring and summer, i'll be turning out black gold every month or so hopefully.

GilaMinumBeer said:

That depends on your definition of success.

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What Bill Clinton here is trying to say is... if you define success as abject failure and resultant disgust, Gila can offer you a wealth of experience.

We compost spoiled feed on our dairy farm, adding 2 wheelbarrows per day, we reach temps of 160 degrees in the center of the heap in the middle of the winter.

Randar said:

What Bill Clinton here is trying to say is... if you define success as abject failure and resultant disgust, Gila can offer you a wealth of experience.

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But, can you really call it failure if that was the only part you were really good at?