How to Insulate Your Compost in the Winter
Photo by Joi
If you live in a climate with cold winters, you might want to consider insulating your compost. You may wonder if it’s worthwhile to compost in the winter, and the answer is yes! There are various reasons why your compost bin or pile needs attention during the winter months. Here are some things to consider:
- You may not have a viable in-home compost system, or you may not want one.
- You don’t have to abandon gardening altogether in cold weather; some gardeners really miss the hands-in-the-dirt rewards of spring and summer.
- Winter compost is free of the overheating and drying out worries of summer.
- Houseplants appreciate the boost from some compost in the winter.
If you are going to compost in the winter, here are some reasons to insulate.
- Save the worms. These essential components to compost will die at temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and an average-size compost pile can easily get that cold even in the middle. Worms normally winter deep underground below the frost line, but no one has figured out a way to inform them that they are, in fact, above ground no matter how deep into the compost they get!
- It’s ready for you in the spring. If you have insulated your compost and continue to “feed” it with kitchen scraps and such, you won’t have to wait until far into spring before having rich compost available for your garden.
Here are some of the basic steps toward winter composting and insulating.
- Clear out as much of summer’s rich compost as possible. Because compost does not decompose as fast in winter, you want to minimize the risk of waste pile-up.
- Pile on the leaves and autumn yard trimmings for insulation.
- Pile straw or mulch around the pile or bin.
- Depending on the portability of your compost, you could potentially move it into a garage or other slightly heated outbuilding.
- Dig a hole and put your compost into it; the surrounding earth makes good insulation.
- Let it snow, and let it accumulate around your compost. As Arctic dwellers can tell you, snow makes a great insulator if it is piled high and thick enough.
- Using cardboard such as cut up boxes, you can construct a multi-layered cardboard wall around your compost. Stuff insulation such as straw or leaves into the space between the sheets of cardboard.
Another thing to remember is accessibility. It’s tough to trudge out to the compost bin or pile in deep snow and sub-zero weather. If possible, keep the compost nearby (move it if necessary) and have a temporary container into which you put your kitchen scraps, and make one trip every few days.
One last thing to remember – remove any insulation early in the spring to avoid overheating your compost.
