'The first step in ensuring you get a fast-working compost pile is making sure you have the right balance of carbon and nitrogen based materials,' says Calum Maddock, Gardening Expert, HomeHow.co.uk. 'Carbon materials are the dry materials such as wood, straw, old leaves, ash, and dry grass. 'Nitrogen materials are things like lawn clippings, animal manure, coffee grounds, and fresh vegetable scraps.'
Carbon - or brown - materials provide a good base for homemade compost, where nitrogen - or green - materials provide organic matter that will decompose to make rich, fertile soil. James recommends you aim for around 4 parts carbon materials to 1 part nitrogen materials for making fast and easy compost.
'If you want the process to be quick, consider adding some compost from an old pile or use a compost starter as this can introduce the bacteria and organisms needed to break the pile down quickly. You can also speed up the composting processing by shredding or chopping the materials into smaller pieces before adding them to the pile.'