BASIC COMPOSTING- tips and tricks/ratios/winter composting/troubleshooting
composting doesn't have to be complicated! In basic terms, there are 4 key components to a successful compost - air, moisture, nitrogen, and carbon.
Nitrogen ( often called "greens" ) sources are most often food scraps and grass clippings, but manure is also a very high nitrogen source.
Carbon (often called "browns" ) sources are most commonly dried leaves collected in the fall or straw or shredded paper/cardboard.
People will tell you that a proper carbon:nitrogen ratio is 30:1
I agree with this, but it's easier to think about it in a smaller ratio as you take out your compost day to day with my preferred ratio: 4:1 Carbon:nitrogen.
This means that if you take a bucket of food scraps out and add it to your compost, you should be adding at least 4 buckets of "browns" to balance out your rough ratio.
For moisture, pouring some water in to achieve the consistency of a rung out sponge is ideal.
For air, make sure your compost has some sort of drainage at the bottom, and ideally some ventilation along the border. If you don't have this, it is integral that you are turning your compost quite frequenty to create an "Aerobic" environment for the bacteria to do their work!
Compost is an aerobic process!
In this video I also cover winter composting, and some tips around winter composting/ways to make it easier so you aren't cursing yourself all winter long.
Please consider composting all season long! It's only the BEST thing you can do for your garden!
Love,
Plantspeak