Put about half browns and half greens in the pile. Browns have low carbon to nitrogen ratios, and greens have high carbon to nitrogen ratios. Since neither is close to the ideal 20 to 1 ratio, you mix the two to get about that (in a large enough pile) so that the pile heats up.
Leonardo de Garden Reviewed by Leonardo de Garden on . Ratio of Carbon to Nitrogen The carbon to nitrogen ratio is called the C:N ratio The carbon serves as an envirnmental energy source for most microorganisms. They use the carbon to build cells and the N in protien production. C:N less than 20:1 = high nitrogen content (should not result in immobilization of soil N) With a high nitrogen content the micro organisms will take N for them selves and convert the remaining organic N into ammonium nitrate (NH4+) in a process called mineralization Mineralization: Rating: 5