Organic Gardening Compost Recipe A healthy garden needs a combination of organic nutrients: carbon and nitrogen. Composting is a natural recycling technique by organic gardeners to put nutrients back into the soil.

Ingredients: You will need nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) at a ratio of one part Nitrogen to three parts Carbon. Nitrogen (one part) components consist of:

• Stable scraps like horse manure, rabbit, pig, goat and chicken manure
• Fish meal
• Blood meal
• Cottonseed meal
• Legumes such as alfalfa and pea clover
• Green garden waste like weeds
• Algae and sea weed
• Coffee grounds and filters
• Algae
• Seaweed
• Lake moss
• Hair
• Kitchen vegetable scraps
• Grass clippings without chemical fertilizers from the first two or three weeks of spring when they are lush and tender (at this time they are high in nitrogen but afterward they go into the carbon category)
• Sod

Carbon (three parts) components consist of:

• Straw
• Dried leaves
• Sawdust in small amounts, (as long as it hasn't been treated with chemicals)
• Untreated wood chips in small amounts
• Shredded newspaper
• Cardboard
• Dryer lint
• Corn stalks and corn cob
• Shredded brown paper grocery bags
• Pine needles and pine cones
• Oak leaves
• Egg shells
• Water - You will need just enough water for the pile to be moist, not wet.
• Air Circulation

What NOT to add to a compost pile: Ashes from coal or charcoal, cat litter or droppings, dog waste, fish scraps, ashes from untreated wood, meat, fat, grease, oils, bones, milk, cheese, yogurt, potatoes, sawdust and wood shavings from chemically treated wood.

Compost Recipe Compost can be made in a pile in the back yard or a bin according to the compost chef's preferences. Keep in mind that if you mix your compost in a pile, it needs to be protected from varmints. You can easily do this by surrounding the pile with chicken wire or by building a wood enclosure. Make sure that any large ingredients, like paper bags or garden waste, are broken down into small pieces so that they will quickly decompose. For maximum production of your compost pile, combine all of your ingredients at once. Don't keep adding ingredients to the bin. Every time a new ingredient is added to the pile, the decomposition process starts over. That's why it is a good idea to have two piles going at the same time. Use one pile to collect the ingredients and a second pile that is engaged in the composting process. To build your compost pile, first put a pile of twigs and sticks at the bottom so your pile will circulate air and breathe. Next, layer the Carbon and Nitrogen ingredients on top of the twigs, starting with the Carbon ingredients. Continue with the Nitrogen and then the Carbon, next the Nitrogen and finishing with the Carbon.

Next add water. To test for dampness pick up a handful of the ingredients and wring them out. If a few drops of water come out, it's perfect. However if a stream of water comes out, your pile is too wet. If the pile is too wet, add more dry ingredients and let the pile dry out. To help the pile quickly dry while keeping it oxygenated, turn it often using a shovel or a pitch fork, about once every day or two. If you mixed one part Nitrogen with three parts Carbon and your compost pile is damp like a wrung out sponge. Stir the pile about every four to seven days. Mix thoroughly. Stirring will move the cold ingredients into the warm center of the pile. Stirring replenishes foods and oxygen for the microorganisms that are hard at work breaking down the ingredients. Heat helps the ingredients quickly decompose and keeps the pile operating at its peak. Moreover, at 131° most disease causing pathogens die as well as pests, seeds and weeds. You will know when your compost is finished when it smells earthy, contains small uniform particles and the color resembles dark brown soil and is light and fluffy.