• Composting requires a blend of ingredients to be successful.terre image by Claudio Calcagno from Fotolia.com
  
  Gardening is seen by many as a way to get back to nature. Composting organic materials found around the home and yard creates natural fertilizer for the garden. Although making compost is simple process that requires a combination of ingredients, the key to rich compost lies in adding the right amounts of each ingredient to the mix. The University of Illinois recommends a ratio of one part green material to one part brown material.
  
  

Grasses and Leaves

• The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection recommends establishing a composting base alternating 4 inches of leaves with 2 inches of grass clippings to a height of 4 feet. As you add other material, this base compacts and decomposes along with the rest of the ingredients.
  
  

Kitchen Scraps

• Kitchen scraps include items left over from preparing meals or snacks. Both the cores and the peels from fruits and vegetables can be used. Bread can be composted instead of discarded. Toss old cereal into the compost pile. The exceptions to this are cooked meat, eggs and dairy products; do not add them to the compost pile.
  
  

Yard Waste

• If you have a flower garden use the leaves, stems and flowers from dead or dying plants in the compost. Make sure the plants used are not diseased or infested because the pathogens will transfer to the compost pile.
  
  

Pruning

• Pruning and clippings include cuttings from shrubs, bushes and brush. Anything from the hedges, rose bushes or other pruned vegetation can be used in a compost pile. Don't use poison ivy or related plants as the toxicity transfers to the compost pile.
  
  

Herbivore Manure

• Manure from herbivores can be used in composting. Herbivores include pigs, horses, cows, deer, rabbits, gerbils, guinea pigs and hamsters. The manure can be used because these animals eat only vegetation.
  
  

Wood and Tree Waste

• Waste from trees can also be used in composting piles. Twigs, dried leaves, small chips of bark, sawdust and wood shavings are all suitable additions to a compost pile. Tear newspaper into strips before composting.
  
  

Red Worms

• Worms are used in a form of composting called vermicomposting. The worms take the place of heat in this method of composting. Using worms requires at least one 20-gallon bin to start with. The worms eat the organic material and leave behind composted waste in both solid and liquid forms. This form of composting can be utilized year-round but requires greater maintenance than regular composting methods using heat and decomposition.