Upgrade the soil in your garden and keep your food scraps taking up space in the landfill. Luckily, starting to compost at home on small scale is easier than you might think.

The key to compost is layering "greens" and "browns" in a ratio of 3 browns to 1 green. Browns are materials like wood chips, straw, branches, and leaves. (You can also use paper.) Greens are items like kitchen scraps and grass clippings. Your compost is ready to use when the material in the pile looks and smells like very dark soil.

Get more information on how to start a compost pile here: Composting 101

Do you have a compost pile at home? Are you thinking about starting one?

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