Special to 318 Forum

While most of the garden goes dormant during winter, the compost bin, with its all its heat-generating decomposition, remains a lively place.

Winter is the perfect season to keep your compost going with healthy additions from your holiday feasts.

What You Can Compost

The University of New Hampshire says most all organic waste can be composted. Toss in kitchen scraps, cardboard, wood chips, sawdust, lawn trimmings, leaves and straw. Don’t compost pet waste or kitty litter, bones, meat and diseased plants and weeds that have gone to seed.

Winterize Your Bin

Keep your compost bin active this winter by choosing a bin that has a wide top and low sides. Tall, skinny bins are more susceptible to freezing. Cycles of freezing and thawing can dry out the top of the pile; keep it moist by adding water. This will leave you with a cleaner bin.

Add an old carpet or rug to insulate the top of the compost pile, or use a foil-backed bubble insulation sheet available at hardware stores.

What to Add

Fall’s leaves make a great addition to most compost bins. They improve aeration and reduce odors. If you store leaves in a bin, cover them with a tarp to keep them dry. You can also add other brown materials such as straw, sawdust, woodchips or shredded newspaper in lieu of leaves.

Layer greens and browns in the winter; only adding greens will leave you with a stinky mess come spring. Shred the materials by chopping or shredding them into smaller pieces to speed up the decomposition process. Skip additions of wood ash and turning during the winter months. Leaving the pile alone keeps it warmer and adding too much ash can alter the pH of the compost pile.

What to Take Out

Winter is a great time to harvest your compost. Compost is ready to use when the original organic materials are no longer recognizable and the compost is dark and crumbly and smells like soil.

Spread it in the garden now or save it for use in the spring.