What To Put In A Compost

More and more people are starting a compost heap these days. It used to just be for gardening enthusiasts however "ordinary" gardeners are looking for info on how to make a compost.

But what exactly do you put in one of these composts? Well, basically anything that's organic can be turned into compost however when it comes to home composting you will want to avoid certain things. The problem is that vermin is attracted to meat and fish so you should certainly not add either of these items to the compost.

To give you a brief intro to some of the jargon, when we talk about composting we will be talking about two main types of ingredients. These are :-

• Nitrogen - also referred to as "wet" and "green" items. These include vegetables, fruit, coffee grounds, tea bags, fresh leaves and lawn trimmings.
• Carbon - aka "dry" and "brown" items. These include cardboard, paper, sawdust, hair, dry leaves, straw and hay.

Generally speaking you want to add roughly equal amounts of each type into your compost. People who add in too many from the nitrogen list end up with a mixture which is too wet, stinks and attracts flies. People who add in too many carbon items find that the compost simply doesn't decompose properly

Another important ingredient for a compost is oxygen. If your compost doesn't get enough oxygen you will get methane, ammonia and other compounds. It's not difficult to get oxygen into the compost. Just use a fork to mix it up a bit. There's also special compost turners that help with this.

Basically this covers the most important aspects of what to add into your compost.