Garden Alchemy: 80 Recipes and Concoctions for Organic Fertilizers, Plant Elixirs, Potting Mixes, Pest Deterrents, and More

A Compost Recipe for Success

Healthy compost results from a combination of four ingredients: nitrogen, carbon, air, and moisture.

1 PART NITROGEN SOURCE (GREENS)

Green compost ingredients are those with higher nitrogen content, such as grass clippings, garden trimmings, and kitchen scraps. These materials rot quickly and are full of the compounds needed for fast microbial growth. They are usually quite wet and heavy and can get stinky fast unless you balance them with enough brown material. When choosing greens for your compost bin, limit any one item to no more than 20 percent of the total of greens. This will help to mitigate any issues that could come up by packing the bin with so much of one item that it quickly throws the whole mix off.

2 TO 3 PARTS CARBON SOURCE (BROWNS)

Brown compost ingredients are those with higher carbon content, such as paper, finely shredded woody material, and straw. Browns are dry and bulky, creating spaces for air to reach the greens. They do not decay rapidly without greens because they do not hold enough moisture.

COMPOSTING SHOULDN’T BE GROSS

If you think composting is yucky or dirty, you aren’t doing it right! Compost should smell fresh, sweet, and earthy, like the forest. Overly stinky compost is not properly in balance, but it is an easy fix.

Too many greens, too much of one type of greens, or too much water in your compost could cause it to become soggy and smell bad.

Compost can start to stink when there aren’t enough carbon materials to balance out wetness. In this case, remove any of the soggy, offending materials, add more brown materials, and turn your compost to introduce air. In most cases, this will help remedy the problem.

Keep These Materials Out of Compost