Greens for Your Compost Bin
“Greens” are the nitrogen-rich additions to your compost pile. These tend to have lots of moisture, break down quickly, and provide a quick burst of heat to your pile. While we call them greens, technically any plant matter will work here: coffee grounds, for example, are brown in color, but they’re rich in nitrogen, hence, they’re a green for composting purposes. Here are some ideas for greens to add to your compost bin:
Browns for Your Compost Bin
“Browns” are the carbon-rich materials that add aeration to the pile and structure to your compost. They break down more slowly, so it’s a good idea to chop them up fairly small. Here are some browns to put in your compost:
More About What Can Be Composted
Not everything on this list will be for everyone. Some people, worried about pests in their compost, will decide to forgo composting grains like rice, pasta, and bread. Others will decide that they would just rather recycle newspapers than compost them. You’ll notice some items missing from this list, such as meat, dairy, and fats. While you can technically compost all of these (especially if you have a Bokashi compost bin), we’ve left them off because extra care must be taken to compost these items safely. The items here are safe for you and for your garden. In general, you should have about four times as many browns as greens. For super-fast compost, pay strict attention to proportions. If your goal is simply to avoid sending organic matter to the landfill and the compost is an afterthought, then you don’t need to worry about it too much. If your bin gets wet and smelly, add more browns and cut back on the greens for a while, then give it a turn. If the contents of your bin aren’t breaking down, add some greens, turn it, and it should start turning into compost again.
