Home Composting Made Simple: Leaves, Kitchen Scraps, and Winter
Grow Figs Where You Think You Can’t — Revised & Expanded
My fig book is now more than three times the size of the original, with practical advice on growing in pots, pruning, overwintering, and getting figs ripe—plus ideas from cold-climate fig growers around the world.
Do you really need to turn your compost? And what happens when your compost bin freezes in winter?
Kayla Siefried, Education Director at the Compost Education Centre in Victoria, BC, joins me to talk about making compost at home. We explore how to choose a system that fits your space and routine, whether that's a backyard bin, a hot compost pile, a worm bin, or a food waste digester.
Then we dig into the everyday details: balancing kitchen scraps with fall leaves, checking moisture, deciding when to turn a pile, and planning for winter composting in a cold climate.
We talk about:
- The differences between passive composting, hot composting, worm bins, and food waste digesters
- Choosing a bin and a convenient location, with rodents in mind
- Using fall leaves as a compost ingredient and garden mulch
- When a compost pile needs water or more air
- Keeping browns handy when your leaf pile is buried in snow
- Allowing extra bin space for scraps that freeze instead of breaking down
Resources:
- Compost Education Centre
- Composting and gardening fact sheets, including backyard composting, vermicomposting, food waste digesters, hot composting, and urban leaves
