Yep, I'm doing the same. I figure I'd rather leave them outside frozen than in the landfill or down the disposer. It makes sense to me (for what THAT's worth) that the freezing/thawing, sun, wind, snow and eventual rain and heat will do "something" to them. Besides if an animal gets a frozen vegetable or finds a place to hide from the wind...that's ok too.

Umm...I just throw the scraps out my back door. When the snow melts they'll be on the ground...lol.
But I have also saved scraps in kitty litter buckets, and put them outside when their full...but it's a little stinky.
I am saving coffee grounds that way. They don't get smelly.

I would like to get a worm bin going in my house, but I just don't have the time to set it up. Maybe this spring, when the worms come out, I'll grab some and start a bucket inside. I'm told it doesn't smell, having the worms breakdown the scraps.

Linda

I'm glad to read this, my heart was almost broken as I threw away strawberry tops, broccoli and coffee grinds - I didnt think they would be useful in a frozen bin! oh,,but then I'd have to make a pathway to the bin...ugh.

Ive been putting the less edibles directly on the flower bed. The path to the pile is frozen and icy and I dont want to risk breaking a hip or crashing my nogging on the cinder blocks. The yummy stuff tho, is going in the trash. I feel bad, but last year I fed to many animals by putting food scraps on the frozen pile. So far they arent interested in eggshells citrus or banana peels or coffee grounds.

Last year I fell on my butt walking out to the pile and lucky is was my butt cuz theres enough padding to absorb the impact, but I decided I wasnt going to take that risk again this year. I wont be able to compostANYTHING if Im laid up in bed with broken appendages.

My last chore of the fall was to stack a couple of old tires outside the cellar door on the edge of one of my vegetable beds. That's the winter compost pile, I cover it with an old window screen. There is no way I'm schlepping across the snow and ice with my bucket of peelings. Come spring I'll turn it a couple of times and then work it in to the soil.
I love composting!

I see I'm not the only 'compost nut' here. :)

Sometimes I think it is my favorite part of gardening, it is so magical to me, I put my scraps out there, and let it sit, and in a period of time I've got "black gold", the gardeners treasure.

I don't follow all the rules and such for this much carbon and that much nitrogen. I always remember my mother 50 years ago, throwing the stuff out on a heap and it always worked and she didn't follow any ratio.

I have 3 bins going now. Sometimes I'm afraid my whole garden plot will turn into compost bins!
This Spring someone in my neighborhood is doing a garden project of encouraging people to use their background for growing food. So I'll have an outlet for my extra compost.

Linda,
I tried a worm bin once, but I wasn't motivated to keep it up. A great idea tho.

We really are known as Whacko's not compost nuts, LOL. We've been composting here since we moved here in 1998. Hubby made me 3 really nice bins, and we keep it going all year long. During the winter, the coffee grounds, and kitchen scraps get taken out once a week, unless the containers that we keep in the kitchen are full then its more often. I can usually spread compost twice a year, spring and fall and with lasagna beds it really comes in handy for layering.
Alberta

I bought a small round plastic laundry bin the kind with holes and that is what I use. In the warmer times I put it on the other side of my fence so my dog doesn't get into it. Right now it's directly beside my back door. That way if I can open the door, I just reach an arm out and dump. It's too cold to smell. I have also heard that it is protein that causes most of the odor in compost so I'm avoiding meat.

Ellen,
I heard someone talking about it on the radio this fall, but it was already too cold and snowy for me to go hunt for worms. I'm a little anal retentive with little time to be that way, so I don't know if I could really do it either, especially when the woman on the radio talked about transferring the worms when you dump the compost in the yard. Oh lord. Trying to make sure you get all of them out? Don't know if I'm that crazy yet. Close, but not quite.

Alberta,
Tell your husband he is a treasure! :-)
I'd be ecstatic if I had that set up. We have the room...just gotta get DH motivated (and that takes too much energy for me).

Linda

I really want one of those worm composters! Hubby thinks I'm nuts already, he just might go for it. I'm hoping to be able to talk him into it for Mother's Day or my birthday. The last time he took our son fishing, I ended up with his leftover bait in my fridge for over a month! He does have some appreciation for worms! We have a couple of fishing ponds nearby, so I do have a valid case.

Composting for me is rather easy, the neighbor raises pigs, bunnies and chickens and I have a bunny.
Old vegetables not used for soup are given to the bunny.
Wiggles the bunny would have loved those strawberry tops!
Grains or old bread are given to the chickens
Table scraps and refrigerator cleanouts are thrown into the pig bucket for the piggies. In return I get manure,fresh eggs and pork chops.
I have a sudo compost bin in the fenced garden, chicken wire zip tied in a circle I throw everything BUT meats or cooked food with butter or spices, that attracts the dogs.
I start this in the end of summer and by Spring I have compost, never followed any ratio either.

I agreed to attend a home and garden show this past Sat with DH on the grounds that I got a worm composter out of it. Worm composter is now set up in a corner of the kitchen. Only had to prove to him that buying the composter and first pound of worms was only slightly more expensive on what I spent for bait worms this past year and he would actually save money by making it possible for me to grow my own worms with the added benefit of compost! Hope to be able to set up a larger compost area outside this spring for grass and leaves and what the worms can't eat. Remember your local Starbucks saves coffee grounds for composters and I have found that smaller local coffee shops will do the same.

busylizzy,
that's a great system you've got going there!

When I went to a talk presented by the County Extension Division on compost, they gave us worms.
They said just keep them in a box and give them scraps.
I think it can get smelly if one not careful.

I do know that worm castings [that's what they call it instead of worm sh*t :) ] is very good for the garden. Because when I was too lazy to do the worm bin, I bought some castings, for my potted plants, and I could tell a difference.

I keep a tupperware container in the kitchen that I put all my veggie scraps and coffee into. I also add in tea bags, and cardboard when I have it. When it's full, I throw it on the compost pile. I use a certain urea containing product I produce myself to water the pile in the winter. Not sure if it helps, but I have very little green waste and every bit increases my chances. Come summer, I should have enough compost to put around certain tomato plants. It's only a 3' bin so there's not a lot.

I keep addin' to the pile all year long- and give it a good watering and stir come spring.

I just started this year. I drilled holes in a 32-gallon trash can (with lid) and I put it on my deck. Every few days I empty my kitchen scraps and put in some torn up cartons and keep it damp. My 7yo loves it -- says it smells so good! (LOL)
I hope it turns into compost!

(FTL -- I wish I had thought of a laundry basket -- already has holes!)

I've been skiing out to my composters(earth machines) since mid-Nov.
A bucket of scraps in one hand, a bucket of bird seed to fill the feeders in the other.
Micro spikes on boot bottoms are good in icy conditions.

I compost all year long also,in my kitchen,in my worm bin.Then in the spring, i spread the worm castings in my flower beds.
Carol

I've been composting for about five years, all year long. This year I bought a rubbermaid rectangular bin, maybe 12 gallons, with a lid, to place on the back steps. I dump my counter-top bucket here so I don't have to walk out to the big pile but once a week or so. Then when it fills up, and if it's not too cold/windy/snowy/nasty I'll carry the big bin out to the pile to dump it.

:)
Dee

Well good for you, token, adding your own urea to your pile. ;0) I'm afraid I'd have to have an "adapter" to be able to do that! (Especially in sub-zero weather!)
I just have a big bucket outside the back door on my covered deck. When it's full, I trudge it out to the heap.

So good to see so many people posting on this subject. I've just begun myself and I'm thrilled w/ the idea of my own compost vs. buying pre-packaged bags at the stores!

Anyone know if the 'flavored' coffee grounds are ok? What about onion slices and skins? Also w/ tea bags is it ok to toss the whole teabag into the compost pile or should I open them up and pour out the tea leaves only?

Thanks!
Wendy

Sure am!
The heap around back is frozen and I haven't been adding to it. However, right outside my kitchen door I have a 2 foot gap between the steps and the side of the house; there I have been dumping all my kitchen scraps (coffee grounds/filters, fruit/veg scraps and egg shells) and tossing a layer of straw in as I build it up.

Wendy, you can throw all of that in there. Anything organic with no oils or fats. I toss the whole tea bag. When I had a roommate, she threw in her coffee filters. I use a filterless coffee maker now. Egg shells, cooked rice (plain), veggies, etc.

After wanting to compost for a couple years but not having a bin, I finally found some free wood pallets and got DH To help me put one together. The only problem is that the best place to put it is already occupied by some bags of mulch that are frozen to the ground so I can't move them. So right now there is an empty compost bin sitting out in the back yard waiting to be put to work. I can't wait to get started. There are horses down the road and I have an open invite to take as much HM as I want... There are several coffee places from which I am sure I could get UCG.... And I always have lots of junk mail for browns (I don't have lots of leaves to compost, and the neighbors all burn their leaves and brush.) I am hoping the compost bin will take care of all those thin cardboard boxes (for example, cereal boxes) that seem to take up most of the space in our trash.

Lois in PA

Yup, although the pile is frozen I keep a 5 gallon pail on the step outside. When it starts to get full then it's time to strap on the snowshoes and take it out back to the pile (or put a second pail out there...LOL). I end up dumping a big frozen block on the pile, but come spring it will thaw and compost just fine.

I have been entertaining vermicomposting with worms...have to let that idea soak in a little more though.

I've been composting for a long time, probably 20 years. Not in winter though- I just won't go out there if I don't have to. I rarely even look in my bins Nov through February. If the weather's not too bad, I will pick up UCGs from the coffee shop and just dump them into a bed. Now we're buried in ice and I don't step outside if I don't have to. It's treacherous.

Karen

Hey guys,
I posted a picture of my worm bin,see posting:
Pictures of my worm bin.
Carol

Composting is my middle name. I do it year round most times, keeping it hot all the way through, but this year had to give-up the winter composting due to the ice. Last winter was great and the following photo was taken sometime in winter before the addition of 200+ lbs of wet UCGs (used coffee grounds collected in one week), 1/3 of which you see in the buckets in the cart.

{{gwi:262030}}

It's quite the mess in the photo. This past summer I redid one of the end bins and in 2009 I plan on rebuilding the three others since they are falling apart. This is one of my favourite parts of gardening. Really therapeutic and good for the soul and the soil.

Oh how I wish I could have that much room for bins! You're amazing Tiffy!!

I have been composting as far as I can remember.
In the kitchen, I put scraps in a small bucket that gets emptied in the compost bins made of 32 gallon garbage cans that I have drilled holes on the side.

In winter, it's too difficult to trek through the snow to the bins, so I empty the scraps in buckets outside by the back wall near the sidewalk. These buckets get emptied into the bins whenever I can walk to them.

This winter, I wised up and put one of the bins by the back wall. I also put several bags of leaves by the bin so I can add the leaves to the bin. They are all frozen, though. Bummer. The bin is almost full now. I may have to place buckets next to the bin soon.

Nice wagon tiffy. I never thought of cardboard for composting. I do shred a lot of newspaper and have convinced DH that just getting rid of our sensitive info this way is a reason to make it all worth while. Do you think worms would be safe in my basket? My daughter would love finding them and letting them live by the house. I think I would just dump the whole thing in the garden when it seems ready. Worms are welcome in my yard.

I'm impressed all these people composting - helping to save the Earth!
Franeli-nice to see you! I love the image of you skiing out to the bin, compost in one hand, bird seed in the other. I imagine a cape flowing behind you.
Lois- re composting junk mail, I have always understood that colored (as opposed to black and white) newspaper is not good for the compost. Because of the different ink.

ellen

ellen,
I believe all ink is made of soy now days,so not harmful.Shinny paper is not so good though.
Carol

I don't worry so much about color. I do leave out the shiny bits. I started a lasagna bed where I am going to plant my veg. garden this year. I had so many leaves and little else so shredding was a nice solution. The used coffee grounds from starbucks helped too. If I don't have enough green in there to work, then I will end up working it into the clay I call dirt in my back yard.
My basket is the answer to the cold. Also a small basket is easy to turn/mix with a hand trowel. Though not in this cold weather. I really wish I knew someone with livestock. I thought about getting a bunny but my cat would terrify it if the dog didn't. Have you ever considered getting a pet for it's poop?

This is an encouraging thread! I've been wanting to start a compost bin but really didn't know how. Everything I've read seems so complicated with ratios/what can & can't go in/turning etc. It seemed too hard...but the posts here make it sound reasonable! LOL! I may have to give it a whirl!

Mayblooms: I felt the same way until I started. Main thing is no meat or fat scraps. I've been bad about browns until landing here and learned how easy they are to add. But it's turned out anyway. Now that I know a little more (basically, no fat, layer greens/browns, turn) I think that's about it for most of us normal (did I really say that?) gardeners who are not compost-maniacs!

I did my first compost last summer and it was great. So I have started a new batch in the fall. Of course it isn't doing much right now because of the temps.

I do have a question for Dorisl. I have read that citrus peels repel rodents. I have a problem with planting bulbs here because something is always digging them up. So I have started throwing my citrus peels there hoping to prevent that. Have you noticed this repelling rodents?

Last fall I purchased a new compost bin, just so I could fill it all winter with kitchen scraps. Then when I wasn't looking the DH filled it full of leaves, unshredded, and full to the top! I am still pissed about it, I have no where to put my scraps, except into the trash. Because of extra deep snow this year all my other bins are inaccessable to me. And a bucket outside my door would not work, first off the DH would not allow it, and my dog would dig it out and spread it everywhere.

I am bummed!
Jenny P

I have three compost bins going that I harvest from various times during the growing season. They are large squares originally made from old wooden pallets which have rotted and been replaced with some chicken wire and a couple of new pallets for the openings.

I used to add to the compost piles throughout the winter but after a few falls last winter decided that I should avoid falls so stopped adding to them during the winter. My scraps now go out to the my garden table for the birds/squirrels or in the g disposal or g bag. Will start composting again in March.

Carol, your worm bin sounds interesting.

The worm composter is great! They can have everything food wise except meat, dairy products and citrus peel (citrus fruit is okay just not the peel) No smell at all and the set up I bought has a collection bin for the worm tea which will run off and can be mixed 1 part to 3 parts water for watering plants. DH has taken a really good look at it and thinks he can build a larger one for our garage. WOO HOO!!!!

I've been composting for over 20 years. Currently use a black plastic bin for kitchen scraps and paper products (napkins, paper towels, paper plates, etc.), which is only about 15 feet beyond the bird feeders. I fill the feeders every day, and keep that area cleared, so it's not a big deal to trudge a little further and dump the kitchen bucket every few days.

I'm an informal composter and don't worry about getting the C/N ratio perfect or taking the temperature. Everything decomposes eventually in our temperate climate with plenty of rainfall. I have 2 garden compost piles, which are loosly organized piles right on the ground next to the front and back gardens . By the next Spring these have usually broken down pretty well and it's easy spread this around and expand the adjacent garden bed right into the spot where the previous years' compost pile was.

I started a compost pile last year and was able to use it in the fall. What a good idea to keep a bin outside kitchen door in winter. There is no way I'm walking out there in winter. I feel guilty every time I throw something out remembering how I need greens and the girls at work had got so good at saving ucg for me. I could be keeping them in garage!! der

Unfortunately my dog does dig through my little basket occasionally. That is why I keep it on the other side of the fence come spring. I'm trying not to throw anything too interesting in there. Right now it is so full of snow that she just eats what she wants off the top. She doesn't like veg. though so most of my scraps are safe. It's still worth the ease of sticking an arm out instead of my whole body. I decided last time that she is just taking a little and basically turning it for me.

I never turn my compost - I tried it and it was too much work. It will compost faster if you turn it. But I'm not in a hurry and eventually it all composts.

The one problem I had once my compost was smelly, not that good earthy smell, but a rotten kind of smell. The guy from the Extension Division said it might be cause I had too few browns and too much greens, ie too much kitchen scraps compared to garden waste. He said a ratio of 2 garden waste to 1 kitchen waste. So I reduced the amount of kitchen vegie scraps and the smell went away.

I've been composting for years now. My local extention service had a program for residents & after the "how to" presentation, everyone got a free "earth machine" composter-an improvement over the pile of leaves in the corner that I threw scraps into! I have a wonderful ceramic crock made for the purpose that I received as a gift. It lives on my counter, which makes it super easy to toss bits into it. It has a filter in the lid, & I've never had a problem with odor. (without touting one company over another, I'll call it a "hint"-Gardner's Supply-several designs to choose from!) When it's full, out it goes to the bucket by the back door, to be added to the composter when it's nice enough to go there. With our cold temps, it freezes solid so there's no smell & the critters don't seem to be interested in a "garbagesicle" I usually use leaves for my "browns", but once, after leaving a job I hated, I shredded the paperwork connected with the job & composted it. It gave me a disturbing sense of well being, & was probably the most useful that job had ever been!

It's only in the past few years that I've realized how much sense it makes to add paper products to the compost. Almost all the napkins, paper towels, paper plates, coffee cups, etc. all go into the compost bin. I use brown paper shopping bags to drain fried food and in the compost it goes. These paper products act like a "brown" to mix with the "greens" of the kitchen scraps.

As for those "sensitive" papers? A shredder would be nice, but it's not necessary! They just get buried in a compost pile, somewhere under coffee grounds, garden debris, etc. Or, used for a lasagne layer! :)

That's why I started a worm bin a couple years ago - didn't want to throw away my food scraps, but I'm too much of a wimp to go out to the compost pile in the winter. Not to mention, it was frozen anyway. I love the good stuff my worm bins produce! I put it in the planting hole of all perennials, and scratch it in around my roses.

Deanna

I am composting too! I have a square-like bin from Home Depot, and I started it last summer. Fall came, and I emptied it in the process of doing a lasagna bed, even if compost was not ready. Now the bin is full again , I carried leafs from the park, and mixed with kitchen scraps until two weeks ago. The bin is full to the top now, and all a frozen cube with chunks in it. It hurts my soul but I have to throw good kitchen scraps in the garbage, nowhere to put them anymore, my dog is "very" interested in veggie leftovers. So I'm just saving the coffee grounds ( our daily coffee), tea bags and banana peels cut in little pieces, so it doesn't take much space . To fill the last two free inches of my bin. I became selective, because of no more space in the bin. I chose to still save coffee and banana because I heard they are really nutritious for roses and such. Spring comes, I will empty it as soon as it has thawed and worked a little. and just start filling it up again.

Anybody knows How much compost should be added to soil, thinking my soil is heavy light yellow-gray clay? ( really not draining well)
thank you