Keep on composting in the cold

In the best of years, my compost pile may yield a wheelbarrow or two of usable compost for the garden, all made during the warmer months. In the winter it sits cold and dormant, frozen kitchen scraps lying on top, covered with straw and snow, until they can be buried in spring.

The cold and snow of Thanksgiving brought resolution to find a better way of winter composting, and I quickly found my way to the writings of Eliot Coleman. In addition to teaching organic farming techniques, Coleman grows his own vegetables year-round on a farm in Harborside. Winter composting is an integral part of his production system.

In his book, “The New Organic Grower’s Four-Season Harvest,” Coleman describes the construction of a compost bin made from bales of straw. A wall two bales high is arranged around an open center, stacking the bales “as if you were building a playhouse with large straw bricks.” Small spaces between the bales allow for air circulation to the center of the compost pile. It takes about 16 to 20 bales of straw to create a heap with inside dimensions of 5 to 6 feet square, the perfect size to ensure adequate heating of the pile.

Coleman stresses the use of straw, not hay. Composed of the stems of grain crops such as wheat, oats, rye and barley, straw is much lighter and airier than hay, which is composed of the leaves and stalks of grass or legume plants. A wall of straw allows air to enter and circulate through the compost pile while keeping the edges of the pile from drying out.

A compost bin with walls of straw seems ideal for winter composting. The bales hold the compost pile within a thick layer of insulation. A weighted-tarp cover adds further insulation and excludes excessive rain and snow. And the straw does double duty: The partially decomposed walls of last year’s heap become fodder for this year’s pile.

In my search for helpful ideas on winter composting, I also dug up an article in which horticulturist Lee Reich advocates the partial composting of kitchen scraps indoors. He describes a three-bucket system using five-gallon plastic buckets. Bucket No. 1 contains a mixture of equal parts dry sawdust or peat moss and dry soil, with a little added limestone. Buckets 2 and 3 are the actual composting vessels.

Start with bucket No. 2, laying an inch of dry straw, leaves, or shredded newspaper on the bottom. Dump your kitchen scraps into the bucket as they become available, each time sprinkling some of the contents of bucket No. 1 on top of the scraps to absorb odors and excess moisture.

When bucket No. 2 is full, set it in a warm spot indoors and start filling the third bucket. By the time it is full, the contents of bucket No. 2 should be ready to empty on your straw-walled compost heap. And so on, through the winter.

I really like this indoor composting idea. It should reduce the number of trips from kitchen to compost pile while actually speeding up the decomposition process.

My purpose is to minimize my contribution to landfills. I take great satisfaction from knowing that anything that can be composted, from banana peels to coffee grounds, goes into the kitchen bucket rather than a plastic trash bag. A little rich compost under the spring tomato plants is a bonus.

Send queries to Gardening Questions, P.O. Box 418, Ellsworth 04605, or to reeser

manley@shead.org. Include name, address and telephone number.