Not enough “browns” in your compost? Get quicker compost with this unique free source of brown composting materials for urban gardeners…

You probably already know that compost requires a mixture of “greens” (typically “wet” high-nitrogen materials such as manure, food scraps, grass clippings, etc.), and “browns” (dry, carbonaceous materials such as dry leaves, sawdust, etc.).

While you may have plenty of these lying around if you live in a rural area, many urban gardeners have trouble collecting enough brown materials to make a truly effective compost. (This often means not composting at all, since compost with too many green materials versus brown will often put off some stinky smells, which leads many people to think that composting is too smelly to do in an urban area!)

However, this problem is easily solved by adding more “browns.” So how do you find more brown materials for your compost?  There are a few ways to do it. If you don’t have enough leaves yourself, you can always collect them during the fall when most homeowners will put them out by the curb for collection by the city waste department. If you have a neighbor who rakes a lot of leaves, why not volunteer to come rake his leaves for him and take them off his hands?

But there are other sources as well if you live in an area without a lot of leaves around in the fall. This video shares a truly interesting resource for brown composting materials that I had never even heard of! This is a great way to get brown composting materials for your garden if you live in an urban area.

Adding a good mix of browns and greens to your compost pile helps to speed up decomposition and give you rich, finished compost for your garden in less time! Watch below to learn where to find this unique source of “browns” for your compost:

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