Green is plant materials and fresh like table scraps, coffee grounds and tea bags type stuff.
Brown is dead dry material like straw, dry brown weeds, autumn leaves, and wood chips or sawdust
proper compost - balance between nitrogen and carbon — most kitchen
waste is high nitrogen. kitchen waste collapses into a smelly, gooey mess
which soon starts releasing methane due to a lack of oxygen.
What makes the heat in a compost pile is billions of microbes that are busy digesting the ingredients. We want the heat! I could tell my compost pile was working when there was snow on the ground and everywhere but my compost pile!
This is what my compost looks like. It is just a old trash can with holes drilled at the bottom for irrigation. It sits by the back fence......
YES! For Compost pile:
Kitchen:
Coffee grounds and filters
• Tea bags
• Used paper napkins
• Pizza boxes, ripped into smaller pieces
• Paper bags, either ripped or balled up
• Used paper plates (as long as they don't have a waxy coating)
• Cereal boxes (tear them into smaller pieces first)
• Wine corks
• Moldy cheese
• Paper egg cartons
• Toothpicks
• Bamboo skewers
• Paper cupcake or muffin cups
From the Bathroom
• Used facial tissues
• Hair from your hairbrush
Toilet paper rolls
• Old loofahs
• Nail clippings
• Cotton cotton balls
Personal Items
Cardboard tampon applicators
Latex condoms
From the Laundry Room
Dryer lint
Old/stained cotton or wool clothing - rip or cut it into smaller pieces
From the Office
Bills and other documents you've shredded
Envelopes (minus the plastic window)
Pencil shavings
Sticky notes
Business cards (as long as they're not glossy)
Receipts
Around the House
Contents of your vacuum cleaner bag or canister
Newspapers (shredded or torn into smaller pieces)
Subscription cards from magazines
Leaves trimmed from houseplants
Dead houseplants and their soil
Flowers from floral arrangements
Natural potpourri
Used matches
Ashes from the fireplace, barbecue grill, or outdoor fire pit
Party and Holiday Supplies
Wrapping paper rolls
Paper table cloths
Crepe paper streamers
Latex balloons
Raffia
Excelsior
Jack o' Lanterns
Those hay bales you used as part of your outdoor fall decor
Natural holiday wreaths
Your Christmas tree. Chop it up with some pruners first (or use a wood
chipper, if you have one...)
Evergreen garlands
Pet-Related
Fur from the dog or cat brush
Droppings and bedding from your rabbit/gerbil/hamsters, etc.
Newspaper/droppings from the bottom of the bird cage
Feathers
Alfalfa hay or pellets (usually fed to rabbits)
Rawhide dog chews
.Fish food
Dry dog or cat food
compost with paper or cardboard, lots of it. If it smells too ripe. I used my junk-mail this winter. My paperwork for the year before after the first too!
NOT for the Compost pile:
CHEMICALLY-TREATED WOOD PRODUCTS
DISEASED PLANTS
PERNICIOUS WEEDS
Morning glory/bindweed, sheep sorrel, ivy, several kinds of grasses, and
some other plants can resprout from their roots
MEAT, BONES, AND FATTY FOOD WASTES
HUMAN WASTES
PET WASTES
You will end up with deep black soil. Now you know why it is called black gold!
