Composting 101

What is compost?

Compost is a dark crumbly mixture of decomposed organic materials – such as grass clippings, leaves, twigs, branches and produce trimmings. Compost teems with a community of microorganisms that decompose organic material and help your garden soil generate its own nutrients.

How compost benefits your garden soil:

• It contains nutrients and holds those nutrients in the soil until plants can use them
• Compost loosens and aerates clay soils
• And it retains water in sandy soils

What can you put in compost?

Anything that was once alive will naturally decompose... grass clippings, plant prunings, fruit and vegetable waste from your kitchen, coffee grounds and egg shells are common additions to home composting piles. However, some organic wastes – such as meat or dairy products and weeds from your yard – should not be composted at home.

In urban areas,

a completely enclosed unit,

such as a compost bin

like this with a locking lid

and small holes,

is recommended,

particularly if you're

including kitchen scraps

in your compost.

A Recipe for Compost Success

• To provide essential nutrients for the microorganisms that make compost, mix one to two parts carbon-rich materials (“browns”) such as fall leaves, with one part nitrogen-rich materials (“greens”) such as grass clippings.
• Air is another key ingredient. To introduce air, be sure to include enough brown materials (because they make compost more fluffy) and turn compost occasionally. Turning will also help compost break down more quickly.
• The final key ingredient is water – add enough to make compost as moist as a wrung-out sponge or washcloth.