A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 Composting JUST garden leftovers

Hi everyone!

Its been awhile and I just remembered why I have to be so careful with this great site, I log on and nothing gets done because there is so much to read, I could spend hours on this site!

I have a small wooded area in my backyard, that recieves little to no sunshine. My husband wants to clean this area up. I would like to know if it is possible to compost in an area that gets no sun and no green stuff.

Basically what is back there is tree leaves, branches bits of sod and my garden leftovers. My husband will not compost anything and I am not here enough to make any decent green contributions.

I was hoping to just make a heap behind the wood pile. I just hate the thought of picking up all this, when nature will do the job in due time, it just takes so long.

Ha, don't we know it!!!


You'll find some worms at the bottom of the pile,
but you'll mostly find some Pill bugs/Sow bugs,
and other types of animals that take care of dying plant material items..

I do two kinds of compost piles really..

The one's in the bins where I throw both
kitchen scrap's and dried things from the garden..

But I do a "BACK 40" pile...

I load up just browns *some green* and no kitchen food..

It's huge, the one I'm working on now is probably
at least 20ft long *I am a baddddd judge of distance* but, I usually start them in the fall, only because I have a pelthra of debris...

I load up big branches and twigs that fall from various parts of mine and my mother's yard...
and because I start mine in the fall I can layer real good..
I put the bigger stuff down first, takes the longest and the weight from all the stuff I put on top, presses down on top of it and works them good, *takes longer to do the big stuff, but helps with the aeration at the bottom of the pile*, then when I mow, I spread that out all over the top, and usually, again, cause it's fall time, it's got chopped up leaves which is THE PERFECT COMBO to do, get's it heated up and really going..
Then just keep layering as I need to throw something on the pile..

I try to keep brown things on the side, call it my side piles, cause if I have too much of green in the summer time, I need to layer the browns in between.

By the end of the 2nd season, you should see some composting under the pile as long as you're patient.... the job will get done..

You might tell hubby that if he throws the grass clippings back in that shaded area it will cut down on the garbage bill buy a big chunk in the summer. And with electric bills so high in the summer I'm always looking for ways to save money.

Hey weezie,

This sounds like what I am trying to do! Could you tell me what the ratio of brown to green is? At the moment mine would fall between 90% brown and the remainder green.

I could alter that somewhat by putting some grass clippings on the pile. We stopped accumulating grass clippings because there was way to much of it and it is better for grass to just mulch the clippings back into the grass when mowing.

Any amount, no matter how small will
greatly help a "brown pile".........

But it's normally a bigger ratio for
Brown to greens...

Think of a pile as a bonfire........
*the brown is the wood to burn*
*the green is your gasoline to start it*

Or think of a pile as lasgna........
*the noodles is your base ingredient*
*the green as your sauce*

You need more of the browns, layer the bigger stuff on the bottom, throw the greens all acrossed those browns.... and just keep layering..

The best way is to make sure you have a layer of
brown on top of the green when done doing that "transaction" to the pile..
You always want something for the "green to burn" on top...

With big piles like that, to be honest, I never turn them, those are my no work piles..
Just throw, layer properly and go!!!!
And in a few years you bottom will be very nice..
*I am just seeing some good results with the pile
I started 4 years ago..*

Remember to leave the pile alone after awhile,
go right next to it, and start the same process
all over again....that way you can leave the one to "work" while you're still throwing stuff away
and utilizing all of your fallen debris...

AND REMEMBER FALL IS THE OPTIMAL TIME TO REALLY START PILES GOING..
WHEN CHOPPING LEAVES AND GRASS AT THE SAME TIME...
IT'S THE RIGHT RATIO OF GREEN TO BROWNS AND THEY'RE IN TINY PIECES' THAT REALLY GET GOING, FAST!!!!