Compost Heap Sheet
The ratio gets you started. The two symptoms at the bottom are what actually keep a heap working.
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The heap
- Location
- Date started
- Target volume (cu ft)
- Ratio used
- BROWNS (cu ft)
- GREENS (cu ft)
- Bucket size
- Brown loads
- Green loads
- Last turned
Browns and greens
- BROWNS (carbon)
- dry leaves, straw, cardboard, wood shavings, paper
- GREENS (nitrogen)
- grass clippings, kitchen scraps, prunings, coffee grounds
- ⚠ The names mean ROLE
- coffee grounds are a GREEN; dried grass is a BROWN
- Target, by weight
- 30:1 carbon to nitrogen
- Target, by VOLUME
- 2:1 to 3:1 browns to greens
- ⚠ Those are the SAME rule
- different units — never mix them up
- At 3:1
- browns are 75% of the volume
- Minimum heap for heat
- about 1 cubic yard — 3 ft each way
- Moisture
- a wrung-out sponge
What the heap is telling you
- Smells of AMMONIA, wet, slumped
- too much NITROGEN → add browns, turn it
- Dry, cold, unchanged for weeks
- too much CARBON → add greens and water
- Sour smell, soggy, matted
- too wet / airless → turn it, add browns
- Hot in the middle, steaming
- working — turn it when it cools
- Small heap doing nothing
- probably too SMALL to hold heat, not wrong ratio
What went in
| Date | Material | Brown or green | Loads | Turned? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
30:1 and 3:1 are the same rule
30:1 is carbon to nitrogen BY WEIGHT — the real target, and unmeasurable in a garden. 2:1 to 3:1 browns to greens BY VOLUME is how you actually build it. Confusing the two produces a heap of 30 parts dry leaves that will do nothing for a year.
Stockpile your browns
A kitchen produces greens continuously and browns almost never, which is why so many heaps drift wet and smelly. Autumn leaves are free, store in bags all year, and are the standard fix — keep a sack beside the heap and add a few handfuls every time you add scraps.