Experienced gardeners love to say, "compost happens," meaning eventually almost any pile of organic matter will decompose, but follow the tips below to make your own black gold in a matter of months.

1. Never add animal matter (meats, fats, bones, or dairy products); cardboard; woods such as black walnut, eucalyptus, and red cedar; diseased plants; domestic-animal waste; lawn and garden cuttings treated with herbicides or pesticides; very wet lawn or garden cuttings; glass; metal; or stones to the compost pile.

2. Cut up any large kitchen or gardening debris before adding it to the pile to speed decomposition.

3. Stick to the 1 part green to 2 to 3 parts brown ratio. Excess green matter causes compost to develop a strong odor; if this occurs, add more brown material and a sprinkling of compost bioactivator to aid decomposition, and turn well.

Compost Ingredients
The following is a partial list of materials suitable for composting. Use it as a guide to help you make the most of garden and household refuse.

Green (nitrogen-rich) Material:
Fruit and vegetable scraps
Grass clippings (dry and free of herbicides)
Houseplant trimmings
Flowers
Coffee grounds and filters
Tea leaves and bags
Soft prunings
Sod
Eggshells
Farm-animal manure
Fish heads
Bonemeal
Dried blood
Hair
Feathers
Seaweed (salt washed off)
Pond silt

Brown (carbon-rich) Material:
Leaves (fallen, dried leaves and muck from rain gutters)
Twigs and branches
Paper egg cartons
Wood ashes
Straw
Cornstalks
Wood chips and shavings
Sawdust
Wool
Newsprint (finely shredded; never add paper printed with color ink)
Pine needles