I need some advise as to whether I can compost in Northern Colorado during the winter months.
I think everything would just freeze and not decay.
Any ideas.
Thanks, Grandmama

Welcome to Og.
It freezes here too. But I always start a new compost pile. Things thaw and freeze repeatedly here throughout the winter. Just helps everything along, of course it is at a much slower pace, but think how far ahead you will be come spring. Build a pile 4 foot tall with lawn mower mulched leaves and grass clippings all at once, not over a period of time. Then let it be and don't add other stuff all winter. If you keep trying to add stuff later when it freezes, that will be a losing battle. I keep mine in a 3 foot round chicken type wire circle.

lisaann

I'm sure others will chime in too!

Lisaann is right about just how far ahead you'll be come spring. All the hard work has been done in the fall creating the "mix". Even at the very bottom of the pile where it's warmer, the smart earthworms burrow and continue their digesting. Come spring thaw, the rest of the microherd will join in.

My piles used to freeze more before I started inserting hardware cloth "vents" or "chimneys" into them. It somehow increases ventilation. Creates "air pockets" where I can still dump kitchen scraps throughout the winter. At night I can see steam rising from the "vents". Cool! Actually...quite hot!

Now that's interesting, Gardenz. Did you make those vents yourself? Can you elaborate?

The composting process slows down dramatically in the winter. To me, it is just not worth going out to the compost bins.

I ususally just freeze my "greens" in a bucket and when the weather warms up, I compost it.

Grandmama,

Like others here, one of the last gardening things I do in late fall is build a compost heap that I ignore for the winter. It's the only batch of compost each year that I don't stir frequently.

It sits in the sun all winter. So it warms up during the nicer days and then freezes again each night. Like Gardenz, I can see steam rising from it earlier in the winter, before it freezes solid for the coldest months.

It cooks really slow, but come spring, I have a wonderful pile of compost ready for the garden.

Liz, for chimney vents in larger piles, I use lengths of plastic foundation pipe that already have a row of holes along one side. Then I drill some more 2" holes with a hole drill (hole saw, or whatever you call it) all around the pipe and stick it into the center of the pile. Very effective.

I might try building a compost pile inside the greenhouse this fall to generate some heat in there.

Whether or not your compost pile will freeze during the winter months depends on a number of things, moisture level and air temperature the major factors. It takes a lot of cold weather top slow the composting process down, but that can also be slowed down by too much moisture that will displace the air the bacteria also need. The colder the air around that compost pile is and the longer it is that cold will affect digestion some, but the pile itself is some insulation and if the moisture level is close to optimal your compost pile can be kept working all winter, provided the C:N raio is also close to optimal.

I just keep throwing stuff in there all winter. It may or may not "cook", but then the pile is ready to start cooking when it thaws in Spring.

I keep adding to my pile all winter,and when the snow gets too high to get to the garden I use a compost tumbler on the back deck,if that fills up i just toss grocery bags full of kitchen scraps right into the snow for retrieval in the spring.They freeze solid so don't cause any problems.The snow can get to 4 or 5 ft on my back deck so nobody sees them.
Keep on composting in winter ,it will pay off for you when we start gardening again,honest.
Mavis

I make my "vents" out of rolled pieces of 4' hardware cloth (1/4" or 1/2", doesn't matter). Make them anywhere from 3" or 5" in diameter. Usually plunge about three in various places in my piles as far down as I can making sure to leave at least a few inches above the top of the pile. Also, I avoid getting any compost ingredients in that vent. Depending on the diameter of your pile, you could use as little as one or as many as you want I suppose. Top half of my piles never freeze and like Johnnie, I just let mine sit. Aside from adding scraps over winter, it gets no turning or other tending.

Ok, thanks for the suggestions on venting. I could probably drill a few holes in some old PVC pipe we have around here. Will have to see if my "pile" looks tall enough. I'm trying more of a lasagna project this year, with the aforementioned flax straw taking up most of the space in my usual leaf compost location. [I figure since the flax straw probably won't compost by spring, I can use it for mulch next year. And if it does - oh well, more compost.]

I try to heat my pile up before it freezes, but usually I just dump scraps under the leaves in the pile and it heats way up in the spring. The scraps from January are usually unrecognizable by March when the compost warms up with the weather.

I'm lazy - I don't do anything to my compst piles except turn them infrequently. They ALL turn into compost given enough time.

And yes, I continue to compost through the winter. I'm not fussed that the pile doesn't "do" much until spring...

Hey thanks everybody for your input. I will try all the above mentioned ways. I can't fail now. It all sounds easy enough for me.
Thank you again, Grandmama