Preparing the garden for winter has produced so much for the compost bin that you couldn’t squeeze another single weed, never mind all the winter’s kitchen waste. But don’t panic, there is a solution.

It’s easy to be wise after the event. You could have reduced the waste by shredding, finely chopping or even running a rotary mower over piles of vegetation. But this all takes time and planning and it’s hard to fit this into our busy lives.

If you’ve been using a plastic composter, you’ll find it works quite efficiently and converts garden rubbish into decent compost within a year.  So if you’ve been using it throughout the year, the compostables at the bottom should be fairly well rotted. You can either let the whole contents of the bin rot down by next spring or remove the roughish compost at the bottom leaving ample space for more.

Use this rough compost as mulch, round plants in a bed or border or spread it thinly over any vacant space in the veg plot. The mulch will continue to break down over winter and the nutrients will be incorporated into the soil, thereby gradually enriching it for next year’s crops. The tougher material will remain on the surface, rotting down more slowly and providing a protective layer for the ground.

Alternatively, if you want the waste to complete the composting process before using, fill and store it in robust plastic bags. Loosely cover the bags but don’t tie them up so air, but not rain, can get in. Composting will continue in the bags.

Accessing rough compost from a larger New Zealand bin is obviously harder work but, as you know, composting in this bin takes two, sometimes three years, so you’ll probably have more than one bin. Last year’s unit will have sunk by perhaps as much as 50%, so repeat the process you used for the smaller bin here. If the top layer hasn’t made much progress, fork it into the bin you’re using just now or simply lay in a pile beside it and put back in the bin once you’ve removed the rough compost.  The better compost beneath can be used as mulch.

Start filling the now empty bin with fresh waste and cover this year’s bay to keep the rain out and provide a slightly warmer environment for composting.

Over winter you’ll be filling the composter with kitchen, not garden waste. This soft, wet material becomes fairly dense and airless over time so could start to stink. Prevent this by mixing in crumpled paper, envelopes and cardboard. They absorb surplus water and create little air pockets and prevent the heap from becoming smelly.

You may not want to add woody prunings over winter as they take a few years to break down and would need to be picked out before using otherwise finished compost.

You can add small amounts of woody shreddings to the composter, but it’s always best to use this as mulch or for paths. Otherwise store prunings and use on a fire if you have one, or make a “dead hedge2, as I described recently.

(Image: Winter squash)

Plant of the week

Winter squash Blue Ballet has turquoise blue skin and bright orange tasty flesh; the fruits are handily small weighing about 1.5kg. They will store but must now be brought in to a cool, 10-15C, place. Ensure fruits for storage are clean and undamaged.