Start simple. You need only a small space outdoors to start converting food scraps into a “supercharged” soil additive. Start your compost heap with an airy layer of “brown” materials—dry leaves, hay, or shredded newspaper. “The browns provide carbon.”
Layer it on. Add a thinner “green layer” next. This is where food scraps go—fruits, vegetables, coffee grounds. Grass clippings also work well in the green layers, which produce nitrogen. “Continue layering browns and greens in a 2-to-1 ratio, ending with a layer of brown.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
What is the Federal Reserve and what does it do?The explainer The decisions made by the United States' central banking system have very real economic effects
-
'Natural disasters don't happen only in the movies'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump vs. the arts: Fresh strikes against PBS and the NEAFeature Trump wants to cut funding for public broadcasting and the arts, which would save a little but cost a lot for red states
