If you’ve ever taken a stab at home composting, you quickly discovered that compost doesn’t just happen because you tossed a few apple cores and banana peels in a bin out back. Composting is a bit like baking bread. There’s a ratio involved, and if it’s off, the whole thing falls apart. O, in this case, starts to stink.
At the horticulture program at Trident Technical College, we recently experienced this firsthand. We ran a composting lab with kitchen scraps supplied by the culinary program as well as garden trimmings from the horticulture grounds. These were the “greens,” in composting terms. But we lacked “browns.” That’s carbon-based material like dead leaves, small branches, shredded paper and wood chips.
Without enough browns, a compost pile will turn into a sloppy mess that smells more like a swamp. Not exactly the black gold we hope for.
A Tumblr composter at the Trident Technical College horticulture program.
Tony Bertauski/Provided
For successful compost there’s a basic compost ratio, which is about three-parts browns to one-part greens. This balance is critical. Greens provide nitrogen, which feeds the microorganisms that break everything down. Browns supply carbon, which gives those microbes the energy to do the work and keeps the pile from going anaerobic (which is when the stink starts).
The challenge most homeowners face is that greens are everywhere. Food scraps pile up daily, lawn clippings come in all summer and weeds never stop growing. But browns? Unless it’s autumn and your oak tree dumps a pile of leaves on your lawn, it’s hard to come by enough dry material to keep up.
So what’s the solution? Wood chips. Lots of them.
After our failed lab attempt, we started bringing in wood chips for a rich supply of browns. And the best part? You don’t need to buy bags of them at the garden center. There’s a fantastic service called Chip Drop. It’s a platform that connects arborists and tree services, who are usually trying to get rid of wood chips after a job, with folks like you and me who need organic material.
You can sign up and request a delivery for free if you don’t mind waiting. Want to move up the list? Make a small donation, and your drop will be prioritized. Just be prepared. They don’t show up with a tidy bag or two. It’s a truckload. Think mulch mountain. But that’s perfect for composting because now you’ve got a source of browns to balance all that kitchen waste.
The remains of wood chips that were delivered from a local tree service to Trident Technical College’s horticulture program.
Tony Bertauski/Provided
Since we started using Chip Drop at Trident Tech, our compost piles have been humming along beautifully. No odor, plenty of heat and a steady supply of rich, crumbly compost to use in the gardens.
One other summer composting tip: Don’t be alarmed if you start seeing black soldier fly larvae in your pile. They look like thick, flat maggots, and they show up especially when food scraps are exposed on the surface. While they might give you pause, they’re actually helpful. Black soldier fly larvae are ravenous decomposers, tearing through food waste with impressive speed. They won’t harm your pile, and they don’t carry disease. In fact, they help keep houseflies away, and their presence usually means your compost is nutrient-rich.
The real beauty of home composting is the shift in perspective it offers. Suddenly, every carrot top and coffee filter becomes part of a regenerative cycle. You’re not just throwing things away; you’re building something. You’re removing food waste from the landfill stream and turning it into something that can feed your soil, your plants and, ultimately, your own table again.
So if your pile’s been more of a stink bomb than a soil builder, take a look at your carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. Most likely, you need more browns. Whether it’s wood chips, shredded newspaper or dried leaves collected in fall, those browns are your compost pile’s best friend.
Keep your pile balanced, let nature do the work and, before long, you’ll have something far richer than the scraps you started with: something that feeds your garden.
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