compost

[santos]

i have a juicer that i use quite regularly, and this leads me to have a lot of organic vegtable/fruit waste leftovers. I was wondering how I could go about turning this into a compost or mulch as I live in the north and temperatures are starting to dip and will be at the frost point soon, so if i leave it outside to decompose it will probably freeze before it gets a chance (especially as I add to it). I dont want to keep it inside as I live in an apartment and dont think rotting vegtables would go over too well ;) Does anyone have any ideas on how i should go about this? (I have a backyard and a limited amount of space I could dedicate to it if needed) Thanks.

[Snooze]

If you have an existing compost pile, just let it sit there under the snow. A lot of people have reported that their compost piles will emit steam on calm winter days. If you don't have one, I suppose you could just dump your left overs in the same spot all winter long, and let the stuff thaw in the spring, and start composting then.

Snooze

[Warren]

Freezing will usually only happen when the pile is too wet. Keep some dry materials next to the pile to add to it, and turn the pile frequently.

[santos]

[Twobtold]

around, there are 4/5 plans to choose from.

Aside: If you choose the pallet plan be warned that after awhile it becomes almost impossible to turn the pike. You might want to build two so you can toss the pike back-and-forth. HTH

[Jane]

My simple suggestions are:

Don't worry about what goes into the pile or when. Do put in leaves, grass clipping and kitchen scraps (non-meat, it attracts animals) ALL vegie and fruit scraps are fine. Don't worry about the timing of when you compost If time is not an issue, don't worry about turning the pile. No need to build compost bins or buy special equipment.

When I was just starting, I'd take a coffee can's worth out to the garden (winter, too zone 6) and dig a small hole, put the scraps in and cover it. In a month or two, there was no way to tell where the compost was. The ground had high clay content, too. By digging, the spring turning got easier every year. This year, hardly worked up a sweat with the shovel and the garden is about 40 x 25 feet.

[Ally]

I'm in Zone 4b, and I still bring the scraps out to the compost bin all winter along; the top and sides freeze in the winter; but it gets cooking again as soon as it warms up.

[Frogleg]

Veg waste *will* decay, 'though more slowly in cold weather than warm. Just start tossing it in one spot and let nature have its way.