In article 2148e628-b790-46ca-90ba-
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says...
I'm starting trying start my first compost. I keep seeing a carbon to
nitrogen ratio of 30:1. Is that by weight or volume? Most kitchen
scrap is nitrogen so that's the one I have plenty of but that's the
low part of the 30:1 ratio. Winter just thawed out and I have bunch of
dried grass on my lawn. Grass clipping is considered green, but is
dried grass considered brown (besides the fact that it looks brown)?
Can I dry "green" things out and it turns to brown material? Seems
like brown is harder to generate in that quantity than green material
since lawn is mulched, but is needed in vastly greater quantities.
Even using newspaper, that's a lot of newspaper compared to how much
kitchen scrap is generated daily. There's no way I can compost all my
kitchen scrap. I know people talk about straw and hay, but those
things are bulky and I don't have room to store a bale of hay until
kitchen scrap catches up nor do I have a compost bin large enough for
that much hay. What are people using for brown material? Maybe I could
start spread chopped up kitchen scraps on my lawn and let it do its
thing. I kid.


Just my opinion... I don't worry about it. Compost can be about
as simple, or as complicated, as your approach to it. And I like
simple.

My only issue is whether the stuff has any nasty chemicals on it.
For example, a paper towel with certain cleaners on it, will go
in the regular rubbish instead.

But, generally, kitchen scraps, grass clippings, leaves, pulled
weeds (with clumps of soil), and some paper... I just dump it all
in. Without attempting any mathematical equations.

I use two commercially-sold plastic bins (240 litres each), to
alternate filling and aging. I add a bit of water and urine
(yes, urine) to the full one. Plus some extra water to the
bucket in my kitchen for scraps (dumped in every couple of days.)

I don't even put much effort into turning the contents of either
bin.

But, it works out OK for me. In this particular location, the
only thing I might change, is buying some worms. Because my soil
is clay-ish and compacted, and has a low natural population of
them.


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