Compost Without the Chaos: What Goes In & What Stays Out

Pumpkin peels and coffee filters with brewed coffee grounds are great additions to your compost pile

Image Credit: Shamela Rambadan

Composting is wonderfully simple—but only if you feed it the right things. One wrong ingredient can turn your eco-friendly dream into a soggy, smelly science experiment.

So let’s keep this easy, especially for small spaces and window boxes.

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✅ The Golden Rule of Compost

Great compost is all about balance between:

• Greens – moist, nitrogen-rich (your “kitchen scraps”)

• Browns – dry, carbon-rich (your “dry stuff”)

Too many greens = smell.
Too many browns = compost that takes forever.
We want harmony… not drama.

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🟢 WHAT YOU CAN COMPOST (Small-Space Friendly)

These break down beautifully and behave well in bins, buckets, and tiny composters:

Kitchen Greens

• Fruit peels & scraps (banana, mango, citrus, apple)

• Vegetable trimmings (carrot tops, bodi ends, pea shells, lettuce)

• Used tea bags (no plastic mesh)

• Coffee grounds & filters

• Crushed eggshells

  
   Eggshells provide a rich source of calcium          Image Credit: Eva Bronzini - Pexels .com

                             Carrot peelings  should be added to your compost pile instead of your garbage bin

                                            Image Credit: Eva Bronzini - Pexels.com

    Don't throw away these valuable grass clippings in the trash; instead, toss them in the compost pile                                                 Image Credit: Julia Dibrova - Pexels.com

Browns (Don’t Skip These!)

• Dry leaves

• Shredded paper or cardboard (no glossy print)

• Paper towel rolls, paper egg cartons

• Dry coconut husk fiber (yes, Caribbean approved!)

 Dried leaves are a great addition to your compost pile

Image credit: Karen F - Pexels.com

👉 Tiny-space tip: For every bucket of kitchen scraps, add a bucket of dry material. No eyeballing like a tired cook—this is where success lives.

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🔴 WHAT TO KEEP OUT (Trust Me on These)

These cause odour, pests, slow breakdown, or outright rebellion:

• Meat, fish, bones

• Dairy (cheese, milk, butter)

• Oily or greasy foods

• Cooked food with heavy seasoning

• Pet waste

• Diseased plants

• Large amounts of citrus at once

If it:

• Smells strong

• Is greasy

• Or would attract flies in 10 seconds flat…

It does not belong in your compost.

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⚠️ The #1 Beginner Compost Mistake

Throwing only kitchen scraps into a bin and waiting for magic.

What you actually get:

• Sludge

• Odour

• Tiny flying enemies with terrible manners 😄

The fix?
👉 Always add browns. Always.

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🌱 Small-Space Starter Setup (Ultra Simple)

You only need:

• 1 bucket or bin with air holes

• Kitchen scraps

• A stash of shredded dry paper or leaves

Layer like this:

1. Browns

2. Scraps

3. Browns again 

Repeat forever like a very earthy lasagna.

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✅ This Week’s Tiny Win

Tonight, instead of dumping scraps straight into a bin:

• Add a layer of dry paper first

• Then your scraps

• Then cover them again

That single habit change prevents 90% of compost problems.

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🌿 Did You Know?

1. Compost bins can get hotter than 130°F (55°C) on the inside when everything is balanced properly. Yes… your scraps are quietly working out.

 Photo: Compost Thermometer                     Image Credit: Dino from Pexels.com

2. Window-box plants grown in compost-enriched soil often need less chemical fertilizer and develop stronger root systems. Tiny garden, serious strength.

3. That “bad compost smell” most people complain about is usually caused by too many kitchen scraps and not enough dry material. The bin isn’t failing — it’s just out of balance.

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If you’ve ever thought composting was complicated, messy, or only for people with big yards—this series is about to change your mind. From peels to power, we’re just getting started.

From kitchen scraps to window-box wins — The Grey-Haired Gardener 🌿