How to Compost at Home

How to Compost at Home – The Nuts and Bolts of Composting

Think of yourself as a cook in a fancy bistro when learning how to compost at home; to prepare a mouth watering dinner, you determine the ingredients and combine them to develop splendid dishes.

How to compost at home

This is the same process when you are learning how to compost at home making garden composts. (YES, REALLY)!

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But now, instead of individuals in the bistro as your diners, you will be responding to the demands of your plants.

Chef de Compost

Much like cooking, you are offered the job of producing in equal quantities the -greens and browns- of making compost. (The ingredients)

Greens and browns – are nicknames which are used to refer to the organic materials utilized in creating compost.

The primary distinctions between these 2 elements are not so much on the basic colors of the organic matter themselves however rather on their basic ingredients.

Image By Mojogamon (Own work) CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Greens are natural materials rich in nitrogen or protein. On the other hand, Browns are those organic materials that have high carbon or carbohydrates contents.

The green elements with their high nitrogen and protein contents, enable micro organism in composts to grow and multiply.

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Plus, the Green components generate heat in compost piles.

The Brown aspects on the other hand have the energy that the majority of soil organisms need to have.

How to make a compost
The processes involved

By Torfaen [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Moreover, as the brown elements have high carbon contents, the Browns function as a large air filter, absorbing the bad odors that emanates from the compost pile.

Which if you are learning to how to make compost at home you need to take notice of: (think of the neighbours).

The carbons also help prevent organic nitrogen from escaping and also helps in the faster formation of humus from the garden compost.

When you are working on how to compost at home remember if you get confused as to whether an organic waste or product belongs to the Greens or Browns variety, one of the best methods to test it is to: ‘wet the product’.

If you discover that the product begins to smell after a few days then it belongs to the Greens section.

My friend and neighbor Janet complained bitterly about the pong, that is why we made a point about doing something about it!

Once more, keep in mind not to be deceived by the color.

As an example, although leaves can be found in green, brown, red, etc. colors, they are classified as Browns.

Leaves have a high level of carbon. The evergreen leaves for instance have greater carbon contents than any other leaves.

Nonetheless, there is usually an exception.

Oak tree leaves do not come under the Greens classification.
Oak leaves contain high quantities of nitrogen which makes them fall under the Greens classification.

The No.1 ingredient
for your garden
compost

By normanack [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

More examples of Greens consist of pet wastes, grass cuttings, and those left over’s from your kitchen area.

AS long as you do not use harmful chemicals like inorganic fertilizers and pesticides on your grass, then using grass cuttings is OK.

On the other hand, paper, wood chippings, sawdust, bark mulches and additional wood items are most typically under the Browns category.

Sugar items are additionally categorized under Browns.

These consist of molasses, syrups, sugar and carbonated drinks.

You might make use of these sugar items to activate the microbes in your compost pile.

Some other Greens include veggie and fruit wastes, eggshells, coffee filters and teabags.

Also under the Browns come, hay, straw, and cornstalks.
Pine needles fall also under the Browns classification.
But, it is suggested that utilizing excessive needles on the compost pile will give the Browns too much of an advantage.

We can easily achieve an effective garden compost with the proper proportion of Brown and Green components.

Preferably, a Browns and Greens of composting ratio of 3:1 would make a successful garden compost.

What we are looking for ideally is a compost pile made from three parts of components high in carbon (Browns) and one part of it made up of nitrogen-rich ingredients (Greens).

Check this out >> Worlds best Compost <<

How to compost at home is one of a series of articles we are planning to put on our site in the organic gardening niche, so if you have any suggestions on this subject please comment below, many thanks.

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