Part 1 of 5 in our International Compost Awareness Week series
Listen, I’m going to let you in on a little secret right at the top of this post: composting is not nearly as scary, smelly, or complicated as the internet wants you to believe. It really isn’t. If you’ve been holding off because you live in an apartment, or you don’t have a yard, or you think you need a degree in soil science before you can throw a banana peel into a bin, this one is for you.
Here on the farm, our whole thing is removing the fear and reservations folks have around growing their own food. Compost is part of that conversation, because once you understand it, you stop seeing your kitchen scraps as garbage and start seeing them for what they actually are: free fertilizer in the making. The fancy gardeners call it “black gold.” We call it the reason your tomatoes are about to start showing out next summer.
This week on the blog, we’re going deep on composting. We’re talking five posts, five days, every single thing you need to know to start composting where you live, with what you’ve got, in the climate you’re actually dealing with. Whether you’re in a third-floor studio or sitting on a quarter-acre lot, by Friday you’re going to know exactly what to do.
Today we’re starting at the very beginning. Pull up a chair. Let’s get a little dirty.
What Compost Actually Is (The 90-Second Version)
Compost is decomposed organic matter. That’s the whole definition. When you pile up the right combination of plant-based stuff and let microbes, fungi, and a whole crew of tiny invertebrates do their thing, you end up with a dark, crumbly, earthy-smelling soil amendment that makes your garden act a fool in the best way.
The whole process boils down to four ingredients: greens, browns, water, and air.
- Greens are nitrogen-rich and usually wet — fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, eggshells, fresh grass clippings, and plant trimmings.
- Browns are carbon-rich and dry — fall leaves, shredded paper and cardboard, straw, sawdust from untreated wood, dryer lint from natural fibers.
- Water keeps the microbes happy. Your pile should feel like a wrung-out sponge — damp, not soggy.
- Air keeps the right kind of microbes (the aerobic ones) doing the work. Anaerobic decomposition is what makes things smell like a hot mess.
The general guideline most extension services and Master Gardeners will give you is roughly 2 to 3 parts brown to 1 part green by volume. You don’t need to weigh anything. You don’t need a spreadsheet. If your pile is slimy and smelly, add browns. If it’s just sitting there doing absolutely nothing, add greens (and probably some water). Compost is forgiving. As one composting expert famously put it, compost happens. Your job is just to give it a reasonable place to happen.
Speaking of which — here’s a cheat sheet you can save to your phone. Print it out. Stick it on your fridge. Whatever helps.
What Goes In and What Stays Out
Quick reference for the home pile (more on the city drop off programs tomorrow — they are more lenient because their commercial facility runs hot enough to handle more):
Yes, please: Fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and paper filters, tea bags (check the bag — some have plastic), eggshells (crushed), plain rice and pasta, bread, fall leaves, grass clippings (from yards not treated with chemicals), shredded paper and cardboard, plant trimmings, sawdust from untreated wood.
Skip these for backyard composting: Meat, fish, bones, dairy, oily or greasy foods, pet waste, anything treated with pesticides or herbicides, glossy or colored paper, charcoal ash, diseased plants, and persistent weeds that have gone to seed.
Always remove produce stickers. Always. Those things gum up commercial composting machinery and the workers at the facility hate us when we leave them on. Don’t be that person.
So Where Do You Actually Start?
Here’s the truth: the “best” way to compost depends entirely on where you live and what kind of space you have. The composting setup that works for someone on the 14th floor of a high-rise looks NOTHING like the setup for someone with a backyard. And both are absolutely valid.
That’s exactly what we’re getting into tomorrow.
Coming up Tuesday — Part 2: Composting at Every Level.
From apartment dwellers to backyard gardeners, we’re walking through the right setup for every kind of urban living situation, including all the Chicago-specific resources you should be taking advantage of. Trust me, there are more options than you think.
Got compost questions? Come hang out with us in the We Sow We Grow Gardening Chat on Facebook, or drop your question in the comments below. We’re learning together, every season.
