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Backyard Composting
Four Easy Steps to Composting at Home
Kindly put together by Julie Poplaski, Master Gardener Volunteer with CCE Madison
Step 1: Pick Out A Bin
- Make sure your bin is at least 3x3x3 feet in size.
- A sunny vs. shady spot will impact how fast your compost will dry out or hold water.
- A closed bin (like a tumbler) is the only way to ensure you will keep critters out. It will also keep out microbes which are needed to break down your waste. If you use a closed bin make sure to add a shovel full of soil from the ground.
- Keep your bin somewhere convenient to use and access. It can be helpful to have a hose within reach if weather is dry.
- Pallets make great open compost bins and free if you can get a hold of them. They should be stamped, look for ones that say HT for heat treated. If stamp says MB leave them be and keep looking.
- If you make your own closed bin with a vessel like a garbage can, you will need to drill holes to allow oxygen exchange.
Step 2: Gather Materials
- A common way to describe materials that go in your compost is brown or greens. Browns are higher in carbon while greens have a higher nitrogen to carbon ratio.
- 3 parts brown to 1 part green is optimal. This ratio does not have to be exact but will generally achieve the best results.
- Leave out feces from cats and dogs, invasive plants, weed seeds, oil, fats, plastics or non organic matter.
- Gather kitchen waste in a container by your sink. If you can not have the bowl inside a cabinet get a container with a lid to help minimize fruit flies and pests.
Browns | Greens |
Leaves | Vegetable Scraps |
Straw | Coffee Grounds |
Wood Chips | Alfalfa |
Sawdust | Grass Clippings |
Newspaper | Manure *herbivores only |
Cardboard | Garden Waste |
Step 3: Maintain
- If you have a open bin, layer some small sticks and twigs at the bottom to help with air and drainage when starting.
- From here, you should layer your browns and greens. You can imagine you are making a bowl for your greens to lay in the middle and then add more browns on top.
- Because your greens are mostly made in the kitchen and will need to go out frequently it is handy to have a large pile of browns near your bin to add when greens are ready.
- Keep your compost at 40-60% water content. It should be the consistency of a wrung out sponge.
- Turning helps a pile break down faster and makes sure oxygen is present.
Step 4: Harvest and More!
- You will know when your compost is done when it has a earthy smell and looks like rich dark soil.
- If you do not fully turn the pile, your finished compost will be at the bottom of the pile.
- If you are running out of browns; shredded newspaper, paper towel and toilet paper rolls make good brown additions.