i live in alaska and i’ve started doing some very slapdash lazy composting. i bought a wire pet pen off amazon for $35ish that comes in 8 panels, and then i split that into two 4 panel segments, and then i staked & zip tied them behind my shed to form two wire boxes and i’ve been tossing yard & kitchen veg waste in there willy nilly. the advice i got was it’s tough to compost here properly because of the 6 months of winter, so just put everything in a pile and cover the top when the snow comes, and then next year when it thaws, dig it out and use it.
i’m thinking about starting a small indoor worm farm this fall to handle kitchen waste in the winter months, instead of having to shovel a path to the compost bins.
i have a large raised garden bed and i think the lady who had the place before us just put her kitchen waste in the corner of the bed. there’s a lot of happy worms in the soil.
anyone got any tips for composting options in northern latitudes?
I live in Scotland, so no where near that cold or much snow. But making sure it’s got the minerals to keep microbial growth going should help it generate it’s own heat. We can buy a product called rock dust here, it’s ground up volcanic basalt - side product of quarrying - wide range of minerals in it. Mixing some through before covering it should help.
Another thing that gets it cooking is wood ash, needs to be a pure wood fire obviously. You can also go the extra step and make biochar to mix in - you’ll get some ash with that anyway.
If you live near the coast a bit seaweed is a good addition too.
I try to turn my own compost regularly and it’s gratifying to see the steam rising on a cold day 😁