I have a small bin in the backyard into which I toss the veggie scraps and coffee grounds. Now that it's getting cold, should I still do so? Stuff won't decay in the cold as well, will it?
We just continue to feed the bin, at least until we can't reach it through the snow. Freeze-thaw helps break the damp stuff down, so it decomposes faster in the spring.
Our observation is that no, it doesn't decay as fast in the winter, but on more or less the first genuinely warm day of spring the entire winter's build-up of compost materials all collapse into dirt. :)
I have one of those black plastic bins also. My experience is that stuff that I manage to put in it over the winter will eventually decay properly. (The steps off the back deck can be treacherous when snow-covered.) Since the "finished" compost is pulled out of the bottom, it doesn't really matter if the stuff at the top isn't fully decomposed. I try to compost throughout the winter nonetheless, as it really pains me to put compostable stuff in the trash.
Last fall, when I was raking leaves, I filled out the bin with a huge mass of dead leaves. They were mostly decomposed by spring.
If you want to be really elaborate, add a second bin and put about half what's in the present bin into the new one. Otherwise, it doesn't much matter, my mom has composted throughout the winter for my whole life.
I have a black plastic compost bin in the back yard, and I keep dumping in my potato peelings and vegetable scraps all winter -- unless the snow gets so high I can't get to it. Usually the centre stays a bit warm and keeps generating compost. But even if it freezes completely, it will start breaking down very nicely in the spring.
The only real problem with winter composting is that you can't turn the pile easily -- but you can do that as soon as it warms up again.
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Last fall, when I was raking leaves, I filled out the bin with a huge mass of dead leaves. They were mostly decomposed by spring.
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The only real problem with winter composting is that you can't turn the pile easily -- but you can do that as soon as it warms up again.