By: Vicki Duong

Behind every scientific equation in composting lies an art form that’s different for everyone. Composting isn’t necessarily a hard thing to do; other than the materials, equipment, waste and space, all it truly needs on your end is patience and commitment. We’re not exactly painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but we’re going to make a healthy, sustainable garden fit for one with just composting alone! Remember, it’s a trial and error method until you find the perfect scientific solution to make your ideal batch of compost.

Let’s begin with an explanation of the carbon/nitrogen ratio, or the C/N ratio. In order for you to have a successful, usable batch of compost you have to have the right balance between the brown stuff and the green stuff. Get your mind out of the gutter! It’s not what you really think it is! The brown stuff, like dried leaves, tree bark, straw and hay have a lot of carbon, and the green stuff like fresh grass clippings, fresh leaves, chicken manure, fruit wastes and food scraps have a lot of nitrogen. This is where the simple scientific equations come in; actually it might be better if you think of it more as a cooking recipe because it really is!

According to Home Composting Made Easy, it’s best if you try to achieve the ideal 30:1 C/N ratio for your compost. This average ratio basically describes the chemical composition of your materials, NOT 30 times the amount of brown stuff to one of the green. With this ratio you’re bound to reach a hot temperature of about 140 degrees Fahrenheit, which is ideal for the microbes in your compost to eat up all the carbon and nitrogen rich goodies.

Another recipe that you can follow is the “2 parts green, 1 part brown” recipe also found in Home Composting Made Easy. This basically means that you can achieve the 30:1 to 50:1 ratio, the latter being ideal for low temperature compost batches, by including two parts of green stuff to one part brown stuff. For example, if you mix grass clippings (17:1), non-diseased and seedy weeds (20:1) with dried leaves (60:1) and divide that up by three, you have a product of 32:1, which is close to the 30:1 average. Of course, you should play around with your recipe to find the perfect fit for your batches. As long as you don’t have too much green or too much brown, you should have a successful batch of ready to use compost!

Remember, composting is a science and an art form. Keep working at it and use these basics to find the perfect C/N ratio.

*Referenced from Home Composting Made Easy by C. Forrest McDowell, PhD and Tricia Clark-McDowell, 2002.

vetty asked:


also can i compost dog poo?

By: Nicholas Tan

Nearly every gardener has some type of gardening equipment. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to have a garden without used gardening equipment. What kind of gardening equipment you use will obviously depend on the size and extent of your garden, what you are able to handle, if you want to spend a lot of time in your garden or get done quickly, and finally, how much money you are willing to spend.

While many gardeners do not have expensive or high-tech gardening tools, all of them have some type of gardening equipment for cultivating. Tools for cultivating can include both hand held tools and power tools. What kind you buy depends on how serious of a gardener you are. Hand tools include your everyday items like shovels, spading forks, rakes, trowels, and diggers. These can all be used to get a garden ready for planting and are relatively easy and do not require much strength to use. Other tools include a wheel cultivator, pickax, and mattock.

While power tools are a little more expensive than hand tools, they really cut down on the hard labor. The most essential piece of gardening equipment is undoubtedly the tiller. The tiller will break up the ground and get it ready for planting, chop up any debris, and help mix in fertilizer and compost. If you don’t want to spend the money on a tiller you can hire someone or rent a tiller for one time use. Other power tools that are very popular include chippers, garden shredders, and chain-saws.

If you have shrubs, hedges, or small trees in your yard, pruning tools are a vital piece of gardening equipment. Pruning shears are good for branches about ¾” in diameter, while lopping shears can handle branches from a half inch up to about 2 inches. Pole pruners are on a pole and can reach branches about 15 feet above ground. Hedge shears and pruning saws are both larger, more heavy duty pruning tools for the serious gardener.

Since your plants must be watered in order to survive, and lets face it, it doesn’t rain whenever we want it to, gardening equipment for watering is a must have. The one thing you can’t get along without is a water hose, everything after that is optional. Many gardeners use sprinklers or s drip irrigation hose. There are even timers you can purchase for sprinklers or drip hoses, if you are willing to drop the extra cash.

Gardening without gardening equipment would be a nightmare. Sure there are some people who enjoy getting a little dirty while they plant their flowers, but even those types of people have the most basic of gardening tools, like a rake or a hoe. Gardening equipment is a part of gardening, as important as the dirt and the seeds.

John S asked:


Can I really compost hedge cuttings, i.e. privet etc, with wood thicknesses of about one eighth of an inch.

It sounds too good to be true. The composting booklet says you can do this but has anyone on here got actual experience of composting thin hedge clippings?

SigGirl asked:


I travel a lot for work, but would like to start composting. I’m typically gone 4 or 5 days a week. Can I still compost successfully?