Winter Composting for the Townhouse Owner

I have a small patio area that belongs to me and I can do anything I darn please with it...however, reasonably, I can't use the space for a regular compost pile. I recalled reading years ago about winter composting in black plastic garbage bags.

This morning I went through my garden area and pulled up some dieing plants and trimmed my tomato plants so that whatever green tomatoes on there would ripen that more easily. I now have a nice, but small, pile of compostible material. My plan is to use that plus whatever else I collect before snowfall and kitchen veggie garbage to a 30 to 40 gal black pastic garbage bag. Add couple tablespoons of nitrogen (I have bloodmeal), 1 cup lime (which I need to buy), 1 quart water, shake it up, close tightly and store in my basement for the winter. Next spring I'll have a nice bag of compost. Perhaps I will create additional bags with kitchen veggie scraps over the next few months and perhaps I'll be able to gather up leaves from my front yard.

Cool, eh?