Composting starts with compost bins, and sizes do matter. If the garden compost bins are too small, they cannot retain the heat necessary for decomposition, and they are difficult to aerate and turn compost. If the composter is too large, air will not flow through all layers.
Compost is mulch; it amends the soil and replaces or lessens the need for fertilizers and pesticides. Compost loosens and restructures soil, improves fertility, promotes healthy root systems, improves soil pH, keeps moisture in the soil, prevents erosion, suppresses soil-borne plant pathogens, destroys pollutants, and supplies soil with beneficial microorganisms and micronutrients.
Compost is the result of worms, insects, fungi, and bacteria feeding on waste and producing excrements that are rich in nutrients. Composting is man's duplication of nature's recycling process. It's a positive reaction to the negative action of cities refusing to collect leaves and grass clippings. Composting is ecological support.
Do Compost It, or Don't
Compost bins are layered with organic matter: one part greens, rich in nitrogen; and three parts browns, rich in carbon. Greens consist of coffee grounds, tea bags, fruit and vegetable trimmings, grass clippings, hair, house and garden plants (disease-free), and tree prunings. Browns consist of clean shredded white paper, newspaper, cardboard, coal-free ashes, cotton or wool scraps, crushed nutshells and eggshells, dry leaves, dry yard trimmings, straw, sawdust, and woodchips from untreated wood.
Never add bird droppings, urine, or feces from animals or humans, all of which harbor harmful bacteria. Avoid bones, dairy products, meat, and blood that will smell and attract rodents. Greasy items and oil-based foods, as well as chemically treated items, do not belong in a compost bin. Limit pine needles, eucalyptus leaves, and citrus peels that can slow down the composting process; limit ash, which can alter soil pH. Plastic, Styrofoam, and rocks will never break down, so keep them out.