Kitchen scraps pile up fast at this time of year, and it can feel wasteful to toss them out. But winter actually offers an easy opportunity to turn those scraps into compost – no bin or fancy setup required. There’s a simple, old-fashioned method that lets the earth do the work for you while everything else sleeps: trench composting.
Instead of managing a pile, you just dig a small hole in an empty corner of the garden, drop in your kitchen scraps, and cover them back over with soil. That’s it. The freeze–thaw cycle quietly breaks everything down while you stay inside with a mug of hot cocoa. By the time spring arrives, the spot you chose will be rich, crumbly, and packed with nutrients – the kind that makes tomatoes blush deeper and greens shoot up faster.
What’s lovely about this home composting method is how accessible it is. Even the smallest yard can spare a little patch of soil, and you don’t need special tools beyond a shovel and a bit of common sense about what can be buried. It might feel strange burying banana peels in January, but come April, you’ll dig up that mellow, earthy “black gold” and feel like you grew it yourself.
The Simple Trench Method
Trench composting boils down to three really simple steps that take almost no time at all – dig, dump, done. You skip the bin odor and turning, letting soil microbes and worms handle the rest over winter. It's one of the most forgiving types of composting for beginners; even lumpy trenches work if you cover them well.
1. Dig a Hole
Start with a spade – I like to use a spear head design like this one from Amazon – or even a post-hole digger like this, and carve out a trench 8–12 inches (20–30 cm) deep and a foot (30 cm) wide – as long as your arm span if you want to clear a week's scraps.
Pick a spot you'll plant veggies or flowers come spring. Loamy soil mixes best, but clay or sand does fine too; just avoid low spots where water pools.
Aim for one trench a week or every other, rotating spots so no patch gets overloaded. A sturdy digging fork like this Truper design from Amazon makes quick work if your ground freezes shallow.
2. Fill with Scraps
Chop scraps roughly if they're big – cores, peels, rinds – and layer them in loose, no tighter than a salad toss. Mix in a handful of soil to help inoculate microbes, and leaves for carbon balance; it speeds up breakdown without creating a stink. Half-fill the hole, as you'll need to cover the scraps. Wet scraps sink faster in moist soil, but dry ones pull in snowmelt.
3. Cover Completely
Shovel the dirt back over, tamp lightly with your boot, and walk away – mark with a stick if your memory is like mine. Covering the scraps properly will minimize smells and pests, but worms can find their way down quickly.
Cold weather discourages rodents and flies, but if you are worried about animals digging up your trench, then a wire mesh like this from Amazon adds insurance.
What Kitchen Scraps Are Safe?
Safe scraps are the everyday materials that break down cleanly, feeding microbes without causing problems. When you’re deciding what can be composted, stick to soft, plant-based kitchen bits – mostly greens – that rot quickly and reliably. They help build soil that holds moisture and nutrients like a sponge, and they don’t require any complicated sorting.
- Vegetable and Fruit Scraps: Peels from potatoes, carrots, apples, or bananas go in first – they're moist and nitrogen-rich, the engine for decomposition. Cores from corn or pineapple add bulk without bulkiness. Chop if it’s stringy to avoid matting. These turn spongy fast in the cold, pulling earthworms in. A kitchen compost caddy like this on Amazon is ideal for saving up scraps before moving them from the counter to the trench.
- Coffee Grounds and Filters: Coffee grounds scatter easily and give an acidic boost for blues and roses later, plus they are a worm magnet for the soil. Paper filters (unbleached) shred fine; rinse if they’re clumped. No need to worry about caffeine – plants take it in slowly.
- Egg Shells: Crush shells roughly and toss in – they add calcium, helping to fend off blossom end rot in tomatoes come summer. Wash and dry them first to avoid a bad egg smell. Shells grit the soil like free lime, toughening it for roots. They dissolve gradually in wet winters.
- Tea Bags and Plant Clippings: Tea bags (nylon-free) and snipped herbs or veggie trimmings layer light – nitrogen punch from greens, carbon from woody bits. Strip bags if they’re plastic; clippings from prunings balance the wet. They melt to invisible by the thaw, leaving humus that smells like spring rain.
What Not to Add
- Meat, Bones, and Fish: Meat scraps, bones, and fish waste can attract rats and flies, and the lingering fats are a magnet for digging animals that will happily unearth your compost. In winter, even tiny amounts break down poorly – the cold creates uneven “hot spots” where harmful bacteria thrive instead of the beneficial microbes you want.
- Dairy Products: Cheese rinds or yogurt cups sour fast underground, the fats clotting soil and pulling maggots when it warms. Milk has the same effect – it's too rich for microbes without air.
- Fats and Cooking Oils: Oils and grease seal out air, slowing rot to a crawl while inviting mold or rodents. Just a dribble can turn rancid; poured grease mats up like wax. Let pans cool first, then wipe them clean with a paper towel and toss it away.
How to Tell it's Ready
Winter's slow grind is perfect for trench composting – the cold suppresses bad bugs, and freeze-thaw crumbles scraps finer than any tumbler would. By spring, scraps have thawed, refrozen, and thawed again – it's like nature's blender turning peels to humus. The microbes wake slowly, but worms till deep, leaving soil fluffy and fed without tilling.
To check if your compost is finished, dig test holes in March or April, and if it crumbles nice and dark, go ahead and plant away. You can either plant directly in that spot or dig up the compost and transport it to another area of the garden. If the food is still clearly visible, re-cover and wait a few more weeks.
