Back Yard Composting: What Can I Compost? Compost Bins

Fact Sheet Series
Back Yard Composting
Composting is a natural, biological process resulting in the rapid decomposition of organic matter. This process is
performed by bacteria, fungi, worms, and many other small organisms. In nature, decomposition results in all living
things plants, animals, insects, and bacteria being recycled and returned to the Earth from where they originally
came. This decomposition process helps provide nutrients and food to plants and soil organisms. Backyard composting is
an easy way of mimicking this process. It is useful for backyard gardeners, who can use the finished compost to improve
the quality of their garden soil; and for those looking to divert compostable materials from the landfill, which can reduce
their landfill waste by more than one third.
Effort Scale:
Easy
Hard
Involves weekly maintenance and monitoring

including aeration and mixing. Your compost needs
to be harvested one to two times each year.
What Can I Compost?
Compost Bins
Any organic material can be composted but some

materials are more appropriate for backyard bins
than others. The wider the variety the better:
Backyard composting is best done in an enclosed bin.

Bins can be home-built or are available pre-fabricated.
An enclosed bin serves several purposes:
OK to Compost
Do Not Compost
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
Fruit scraps
Vegetable scraps
Rinsed egg shells
Shredded newspaper
Coffee grounds/teabags
Garden debris
Leaves/grass clippings
Dryer lint and
human hair
Meat or bones
Dairy products
Bread
Cooked food
Weeds gone to seed
Cat and dog feces
Diseased plants
Weeds with rhizomes
(e.g. morning glory)
t Keeps the rain out, preventing the pile from becoming

saturated with water
t Keeps rodents and other small animals out
t Makes for easy management and containment of
the compost i.e. easy to aerate and harvest
t Is attractive, easy to assemble, and easy to move
Fact Sheet Series #1

Locating Your Compost Bin
The location of your compost bin is more important than
you may think. Most important is not to put the bin right
up against a building, especially your house. You should
also avoid having it up against shrubs, wood piles or other
outdoor structures. These places provide great habitats for
rodents and the compost bin makes them even more enticing.
and brown materials can be hard to find. Therefore, it is

a good idea to collect and stockpile leaves in the fall and
winter as they fall from the trees. These can be stored
in strong plastic bags or a homemade hoop bin (see
Fact Sheet #6 - Urban Leaves) and accessed as needed.
2. Surface Area of Materials
Materials that are smaller in size will break down much
quicker than larger pieces the greater surface area of
smaller pieces makes it easier for compost organisms
to ingest the materials. You can cut up materials using
many methods, including a lawnmower, machete, food
processor, leaf shredder, or hand pruners. Essentially, you
are starting the process of decomposition by reducing
materials in size.
There are several other things to consider when locating

your bin:
t Is it on bare soil? This allows soil micro-organisms
to enter the bin and assist in the composting process.
t Is it located in a convenient yet out-of-the-way place?
t Is it in sun or shade? Either is fine, but the sun creates
more heat and thus accelerates the process.
THE BIN
Use a pest-resistant compost bin
Install the bin on a well-drained site
How Do I Compost?
Composting simply requires adding a mixture of organic
materials to an enclosed container, like the Earth Machine
(see cover page), and ensuring that the conditions in the
container remain optimum for the decomposition of those
materials. In order to create those optimum conditions
for decomposition, you should take into consideration the
following elements: carbon to nitrogen ratio, surface area
of materials, moisture, and air.
GREEN MATERIAL
(Nitrogen-rich)
Manure
Fresh grass clippings
Coffee grounds and tea
leaves
1. Carbon:Nitrogen (C:N) Ratio

All organic materials contain both carbon and nitrogen.
However, materials have different proportions of these
two elements. Materials that are high in nitrogen are
called Greens and materials that are high in carbon
are called Browns.
Greens
Browns
t Grass clippings
t Fresh weeds and plants
t Fresh animal manure
(horse, chicken, cow)
t Okara (tofu by-product)
t Fruit and veggie scraps
t Eggshells
t Fallen leaves
t Straw
t Chopped
woody debris
t Newspaper
t Sawdust
t Shredded cardboard
BROWN MATERIAL
(Carbon-rich)
Dry leaves
Dry grass clippings
Woody debris
Sawdust
Unwaxed cardboard
Newspaper
MOISTURE
Keep the material as moist
as a wrung-out sponge
AIR
Turn the material once a month
A well-managed bin produces compost in 3 - 12 months
3. Moisture
Moisture is important in a compost pile for two reasons:
As a general rule, when making your compost, you should

use equal amounts of brown and green materials. When
adding materials, try to alternate between adding browns
and greens. Keep in mind that some materials are very high
in nitrogen (grass clipping and manure) or carbon (sawdust
and wood chips) so you will need to adjust your mix
accordingly. In the summer, nitrogen materials are plentiful
1. It helps soften organic materials.

2. It supplies water to micro-organisms in the
compost pile.
Micro-organisms do most of the decomposing in your
compost pile, so their survival is very important. In fact,

making a good compost pile is all about creating optimum
living conditions for micro-organisms. Without enough
water, micro-organisms cannot thrive and will die or go
dormant and the pile will decompose very slowly. However,
too much water can slow down decomposition it prevents
air from getting into the pile and creates anaerobic (without
air) conditions. Anaerobic composting is a much slower
process than aerobic composting and can create a strong,
unpleasant odour. A good compost pile should be as wet as
a wrung-out sponge.
t Use rough materials like sunflower stalks, small twigs,

or corn cobs. Although these materials take longer
to break down themselves, they help other materials
break down quicker.
If you are putting a lot of kitchen scraps into your

compost bin you will want to be very mindful of the
moisture level. Kitchen scraps generally have very high
water content and can quickly result in the presence of
anaerobic bacteria.
Even if you employ the above methods to keep air in your

compost pile, it is still important to aerate your pile on a
regular basis. An easy way to do this is with an aeration
tool (pictured). Simply push the tool into the compost pile,
twist and lift out (5-10 times should be adequate).
t Put a floor of rough materials at the bottom of your

compost pile to create airspace in the bottom.
t Make sure your materials are well mixed when
you build your pile. Pockets of green materials
can become matted down and start to smell.
Aerating your
compost pile
two to four times
a month will
help accelerate
the composting
process. This not
only aerates the
pile, it also mixes
the materials,
ensuring a
more even
decomposition.
TIP:
If you find that your pile is too wet, you can add more
dry materials, aerate the pile, and even spread the pile
out in the sun for a few days to help excess moisture
evaporate.
4. Air and Ventilation
Air provides micro-organisms in your compost pile with
the oxygen that all living things require. It is important to
ensure there is an adequate amount of air in your pile at
all times. This can be done in several ways:
t Do not use too much material that is prone to matting
down easily, such as moist grass clippings, excessively
wet kitchen scraps, or okara (tofu by-product). These
materials can easily create anaerobic conditions.
Common Compost Problems

Symptom
Problem
Solution
Compost pile has a bad odour
Not enough air; pile too wet
Turn it; add coarse, dry material (straw, cornstalks)
Pile is dry throughout
Not enough water;

too much woody material
Turn it and moisten materials; add fresh wastes;

cover pile
Compost pile is damp and warm in

middle but nowhere else
Pile is too small
Collect more material and mix the old ingredients

into a new pile
Pile is damp and sweet-smelling but

still will not heat up
Lack of nitrogen
Mix in a nitrogen rich source like fresh grass clippings,

fresh manure or bone meal
Pest infestation - rodents or birds
Improper food scraps added
Dont add meat, fats, bones or other animal wastes

Use a rodent-resistant compost bin
Flies
Food scraps not covered
Place fruit and vegetable wastes in the centre of the pile;

cover with soil or other carbon-rich material
Harvesting Your Compost

How Do I Know When My Compost is Finished?
A backyard compost bin can take from 6-12 months to
compost completely. The closer you follow the directions
on this fact sheet, the quicker the process will be!
There are a few ways that you can tell if your compost
is finished:
t Material is now dark and crumbly and there is little
sign of food scraps.
t Material has an earthy smell.
t Volume of bin has reduced significantly.
Once your compost is finished, it is time to harvest it

from the bin. A well-designed bin allows you to harvest
from a door at the bottom.
Open or remove this door and use a shovel or hard rake
to pull the material out of the bin. Once you have pulled
the material out of the bin, it is a good idea to screen it
to remove any materials that are not fully decomposed
or that are too bulky or woody. This can be done using
-inch hardware cloth mounted onto a wooden frame
(pictured left).
Once the compost is sifted, store it in a dry place so the
rain will not leach the nutrients out of it. It can easily be
stored under a tarp or in another compost bin.
Using Finished Compost

Finished compost is one of the backyard gardeners
best friends. How can you use it?
A simple screen can be made from " hardware cloth and a

2x4 wooden frame. This can be used by one or two people to
sift your compost.
CONTACT US:
t Dig it into the top 15 cm (6.5") of soil for spring

or fall planting, or use it as a mulch in the summer.
t Screen it and use it with an equal volume of rough
sand or perlite for a seedling mixture.
t Add it to equal parts potting soil and perlite for
container gardening or house plants.
t Top dress potted plants, hanging baskets and containers.
t Sprinkle it on the lawn as a top dressing.
t Add a shovel-full of compost to a cloth bag and soak
overnight (or several days for a stronger mix) in a
5 gallon bucket of water. The resulting tea can be
diluted with water to the consistency of drinking tea,
and used as a nutrient-rich fertilizer for your plants.
Greater Victoria Compost Education Centre

1216 North Park Street, Victoria, BC V8T 1C9
Phone: (250)386-9676 Fax: (250)386-9678
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.compost.bc.ca
Open: Wed-Sat, 10a.m. - 4p.m.
We sell composting equipment, gardening
guides and more. Call, e-mail, drop by or
visit our web site.
Call the Compost Hotline:

386-WORM
Base funding provided by the Capital Regional District and City of Victoria. Additional support provided by the Fernwood Community Association.
This paper contains 100% post-consumer recycled fibre and is printed with vegetable-based inks.
Special thanks to Reber Creative for their generous design support.

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Fact Sheet Series

Back Yard Composting

Involves weekly maintenance and monitoring

What Can I Compost?

Any organic material can be composted but some

Backyard composting is best done in an enclosed bin.

t Keeps the rain out, preventing the pile from becoming

Back Yard Composting

Fact Sheet Series #1

and brown materials can be hard to find. Therefore, it is

There are several other things to consider when locating

1. Carbon:Nitrogen (C:N) Ratio

A well-managed bin produces compost in 3 - 12 months

As a general rule, when making your compost, you should

1. It helps soften organic materials.

Back Yard Composting

Fact Sheet Series #1

t Use rough materials like sunflower stalks, small twigs,

If you are putting a lot of kitchen scraps into your

Even if you employ the above methods to keep air in your

t Put a floor of rough materials at the bottom of your

Common Compost Problems

Compost pile has a bad odour

Not enough air; pile too wet

Turn it; add coarse, dry material (straw, cornstalks)

Pile is dry throughout

Not enough water;

Turn it and moisten materials; add fresh wastes;

Compost pile is damp and warm in

Pile is too small

Collect more material and mix the old ingredients

Pile is damp and sweet-smelling but

Mix in a nitrogen rich source like fresh grass clippings,

Pest infestation - rodents or birds

Improper food scraps added

Dont add meat, fats, bones or other animal wastes

Food scraps not covered

Place fruit and vegetable wastes in the centre of the pile;

Back Yard Composting

Fact Sheet Series #1

Harvesting Your Compost

Once your compost is finished, it is time to harvest it

Using Finished Compost

A simple screen can be made from " hardware cloth and a

t Dig it into the top 15 cm (6.5") of soil for spring

Greater Victoria Compost Education Centre

Call the Compost Hotline:

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