Top 10 Ingredients for Homemade Compost

Easy Finds for Homemade Compost


1. Weeds (before they go to seed)
2. Spent garden plants and flowers (disease-free only; get rid of diseased plants by putting in the outgoing garbage)
3. Shrub prunings and old Christmas trees (slow to break down, so best if chopped up)
4. Wood ash (from clean-burning fireplaces; wood only, no firestarter logs)
5. Coffee grounds and tea leaves
6. Discarded jack-o-lanterns, fruit and veggie peelings, bruised/rotted kitchen produce
7. Autumn leaves
8. Sawdust and wood chips (added in thin layers so they don’t clump)
9. Grass clippings (chemical- and herbicide-free; added in thin layers so they don’t clump)
10. Aquatic plants (when thinning garden pond)