Categories: Garden Care

How to Start a Compost Pile at Home in 5 Easy Steps

Food scraps and yard waste make up a big share of household trash. Instead of sending them to a landfill, you can turn them into dark, crumbly compost that feeds your garden for free. Learning how to start a compost pile takes about 15 minutes, and the basics are simpler than most guides make them sound.

What Compost Needs

Before you learn how to start a compost pile, it helps to know that every pile runs on four things:

Greens: Nitrogen-rich materials like fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, and fresh grass clippings.
Browns: Carbon-rich materials like dry leaves, straw, shredded paper, and cardboard.
Water: The pile should feel like a wrung-out sponge.
Air: The microbes that do the work need oxygen.

As a simple rule, use about two to three parts browns to one part greens by volume.

How to Start a Compost Pile in 5 Steps

1. Pick a Spot

Choose a level, well-drained spot in partial shade, close enough to the kitchen that you’ll actually use it. Also, keep it a few feet from fences and buildings.

2. Choose a Bin or Go Bin-Free

A free-standing pile works fine. Still, a bin keeps things tidy and discourages animals. Options include:

A wire or pallet bin, about 3 by 3 feet
Alternatively, a plastic enclosed bin, good for small yards
Or a tumbler, which is easy to turn but holds less

3. Start With a Layer of Browns

First, put down about 6 inches of coarse browns, like twigs and dry leaves. This helps air flow at the bottom.

4. Add Greens and Browns in Layers

Next, add a layer of kitchen scraps, then cover it with browns. Covering food scraps keeps smells and fruit flies down. In fact, if flies are a problem indoors, our guide on how to get rid of fruit flies helps with the kitchen side.

5. Keep It Moist and Turn It

After that, water the pile when it feels dry. Then turn it with a garden fork every one to two weeks to add air. The more you turn it, the faster it breaks down.

Eggshells, coffee grounds, and fruit scraps all count as greens.

What to Compost

Fruit and vegetable scraps
Coffee grounds and paper filters
Also tea leaves
Eggshells
Fallen leaves and spent plants
Grass clippings (in thin layers)
Plain cardboard and shredded paper

What Not to Compost

Meat, fish, bones, and dairy (they attract animals)
Oils and greasy food, since they slow decomposition
Pet waste
Diseased plants, because home piles may not kill pathogens
Weeds that have gone to seed
Yard waste treated with herbicides

Troubleshooting

Smells bad: Too many greens or too wet. Therefore, add browns and turn the pile.
Nothing is happening: Too dry or too many browns, so add water and greens.
Attracting animals: In that case, bury food scraps in the center, and skip meat and dairy.
Slow in winter: That’s normal, because activity picks up again in spring.

Finished compost smells earthy, like a forest floor.

When Is Compost Ready?

Once you start a compost pile, finished compost is the goal: dark, crumbly, and smells like a forest floor. You shouldn’t recognize the original materials. With regular turning, that takes two to six months. Without turning, it may take a year.

Then use it to top-dress beds, mix into potting soil, or refresh raised beds. Our guide on how to fill a raised garden bed explains how much to add each year.

Fall Is the Best Time to Start

Autumn leaves are the perfect browns, and they’re free. Shred them with a mower and stockpile a few bags next to the bin for the rest of the year. Our fall garden chores guide has more ways to use them.

Composting in Warm Climates

In tropical regions of South America, compost breaks down much faster thanks to heat and humidity. However, it can also get soggy in rainy seasons. Cover the pile with a tarp or palm fronds during heavy rains, and add extra browns.