Grow · field guide
How to Make Compost at Home
Compost is free soil food made from kitchen scraps and yard waste. Most of what goes in your trash can feed your garden instead. Get the mix right and you get rich, dark compost in months, not years. Here is the simple way to do it.
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Why compost
Compost feeds your soil for free. It adds nutrients, helps the ground hold water, and feeds the tiny life that makes plants grow. It also cuts your trash, since food and yard waste make up about a third of what most homes throw away.
Better soil means better crops. A bed mixed with finished compost holds moisture longer and grows stronger plants than bare dirt, so heavy feeders like tomatoes pay you back at harvest.
Browns and greens
Good compost is a balance of two things, browns and greens. Browns are dry and high in carbon. Greens are wet and high in nitrogen. Mix them and the pile heats up and breaks down fast.
- Browns (dry carbon): dead leaves, straw, shredded cardboard, paper, and small twigs.
- Greens (wet nitrogen): vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds, fresh grass clippings, and plant trimmings.
- Aim for about 3 parts brown to 1 part green by volume. Too many greens turn the pile slimy and smelly; too many browns and it barely breaks down.
What to leave out
A few things attract pests or rot the wrong way. Keep these out of a home pile: meat, fish, dairy, oils and grease, and pet waste from dogs or cats. They draw rats and flies and can carry germs.
Stick to plant scraps and yard waste and your pile stays clean and easy to manage.
Keep it cooking
Two things keep a pile working: water and air. Keep it as damp as a wrung-out sponge. If it feels dry, add water; if it feels soggy, mix in more browns.
Turn the pile with a fork every 1 to 2 weeks to add air. Air feeds the microbes that do the work, and turning keeps the pile from packing down and going sour.
When it is ready
Finished compost is dark, crumbly, and smells like fresh earth, not like rotting scraps. You should not be able to tell what went in. With a good mix and regular turning, that takes about 2 to 6 months.
When it looks and smells like rich soil, spread it on your beds and dig it in.
Keep going
Questions, answered straight
About 3 parts brown to 1 part green by volume. Browns are dry carbon like leaves and cardboard; greens are wet nitrogen like food scraps and grass. Too many greens go slimy and smell.
Keep out meat, fish, dairy, oils and grease, and pet waste from dogs or cats. They attract pests like rats and flies and can carry germs. Stick to plant scraps and yard waste.
About 2 to 6 months with a good brown-to-green mix, regular turning, and the right moisture. It is ready when it is dark, crumbly, and smells like fresh earth.
You do not have to, but turning every 1 to 2 weeks speeds things up and stops odor by adding air. A pile left alone still breaks down, just slower.
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