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60 more pounds of tomatoes!! I think I'll roast and make soup and tomato sauce for the freezer. Too bad my freezer is so full! There are still carrots and beets in the garden too. Anyone else get overwhelmed at this time of year?

That's a lot of salsa! #salsatime #harvest #tomatoes #vegetables #vegetablegarden #alberta #albertagrown #gardening101ca #gardenersofig

56 cups! Skinned and chopped ready for #salsa 4 3/4 batches from just the ripe ones... #harvestime #harvest #albertagrown #gardening #gardenersofig #gardening101ca #salsatime

Guess what I'm doing today?! #andsoitbegins #salsaseason #harvestime #gardenersofig #gardeninginAlberta #gardening101ca

Composting By Lisa Howse Some people think it is too late to start composting in the fall. Not true! Any time can be a good time to start a compost even in th...e dead of winter. So how should you go about it? The first step is to consider what kind of system fits you and your space. Composting outdoors in a bin is most common, but there are still a few decisions to make. If you have mostly kitchen scraps a smaller bin should be fine, but if you have a lot of yard waste to deal with you might want something larger built of wood or wire. Do you want a regular stationary bin or a tumbling variety? And where is the best place to put it outside? Generally speaking, compost bins should go on top of a permeable surface like soil, grass, or mulch. It is also important that they are easy to get to when dropping off fresh scraps. Don’t put them too far away from the back door! Once you have a spot picked out, getting started is as simple as dropping off your first bucket of scraps. To make finished compost as fast as possible with as little odour as possible, follow the five-step recipe: green material, brown material, water, air, and soil. Green material is nitrogen-rich compost fuel like plant-based kitchen scraps and egg shells, green plants, and grass clippings. Ideally this should make up about half of your pile. Space it out with layers of brown material, the carbon-rich woody stuff like leaves, newspaper, cardboard, or sawdust. Add enough water to keep the pile damp and ‘cooking’. Every couple weeks during the warm part of the year is ideal. You can add air at the same time by stirring or poking the pile with a long tool like an aerator or length of rebar. (Tumbling bins can simply be turned.) Finally, add a half-shovel of soil every few weeks to boost decomposition and neutralizes any bad smells. By following this basic recipe, you can get finished compost in as little as two months although three or four months is more typical. Once October rolls around there are a few things you can do to prepare for colder weather. In a prairie climate compost freezes during the winter. You can still add material but it won’t decompose until spring. This can cause volume challenges as nothing is shrinking. If you have some finished compost in the fall, it is a good idea to harvest it and free up room. Compost is finished once it is brown and crumbly, smells earthy, and the green materials are totally gone. Don’t go by the appearance of the edge of the pile finished compost tends to hide in the middle! However even without removing any compost in fall, there is another simple trick for conserving space in winter. Instead of taking scraps to the compost bin, place them in a large storage tote or garbage can just outside your back door. The cold will prevent any odours, and taking out the kitchen pail will be a snap! In the spring when your main bin thaws it will rapidly shrink. At that point the contents of the second container can be added on top. Of course, there are several great alternatives to an outdoor bin as well. Gardeners with the space may try burying waste in a trench compost. Folks without a big yard might try an indoor vermicompost. And those that want to compost everything even the bones! could try bokashi fermentation. Composting at home doesn’t have to be hard, but it can still be nice to have a little help sometimes. If you live in Saskatoon, you can always contact the Saskatoon Compost Coaches with questions or to get a free home visit from a trained volunteer. Just call 306-931-3249, email [email protected], or find the Saskatoon Compost Coaches on Facebook. Bio: Lisa Howse is the Compost Education Coordinator with the Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council (SWRC). Lisa is passionate about reducing waste, protecting the environment and building healthy soil. This column is provided courtesy of the Saskatchewan Perennial Society (SPS; [email protected] ). Check our website saskperennial.ca) or Facebook page (Saskatchewan Perennial Society). Photo: A compost pile being started (left) vs a mature compost pile (right). Photo credit: Jackie Bantle