What do you need for a compost heap?

Answer 1

Microbes will eat everything organic. The more microbes and the better the mixture of your compost "salad" the faster and the more efficient they will work for you.

HOW TO CARE FOR & MAKE COMPOST

One part green and 2 parts brown,
makes your compost turn into ground.
Add some water and some soil,
turning is the only toil.
C.R., Ray Ayer, "The Compost Guru", feel free to use with attribution

1.To make good compost you need a mixture of 30 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen. If you mix 1 part grass with 2 parts or more of leaves that is about the right mixture. Too much grass and it will putrefy and smell. All leaves will take a year of longer to break down and will not be a "great" compost.
2. Microbes actually do the work of composting. If you take care of them with moisture and oxygen they will work their butts off for you.
3. You need to think of them as your little "pets" and keep them moist. Like a wrung out sponge. Adding a shovel full or so of soil or manure or other compost will "seed" your compost with the microbes you need. Sort of like making yogurt or sourdough.
4. You must get a compost fork and leave it in the compost pile. That way every time you add something you will naturally turn it in. Like cake batter you need to mix in the ingredients. Turning also exposes fresh material to oxygen. With out oxygen your little pets will die and stink. Turning also hides food waste that is objectionable to your neighbors, and reduces the chance of critters other than your "microbe pets" chewing them up. Do not put the garden fork in the garage! You will never turn the pile if it is not left in the pile.
You now have a PhD in compost. (Piled higher and deeper)R.A. the Compost Guru

Answer 2

You need a good mix of carbon and nitrogen rich materials. You can put just about anything in a compost heap, but having a good balance of carbon and nitrogen is cruitial.

Carbon things are basically dry and dead thing - sticks, leaves, dry grass clippings, straw, paper, cardboard, sawdust

Nitrogen things are more alive things like manure, green garden waste, fresh lawn trimmings, food scraps, hair or fur trimmings

You want to make your heap in layers alternating between carbon and nitrogen rich materials. The base layer should be carbon. And always have a carbon layer on the top which kin of seals it all in.

water your heap after every layer so its nice and moist. If you use a bit of diluted molassas in the water it will help to encourage beneficial creepy crawlies into your heap which is good for it!

Compost should naturally get hot in the middle as it starts to break down. They like air and you can turn your compost pile or poke holes in it regularly. If you don't do that, its ok, it will just take a bit longer to finish composting. If you need it fast, turn it everyday.

usually you would make a compost heap when you have a large ammount of waste from the garden or animal waste or lawn clippings, not so much as a primary way to deal with food scraps. You really want to let your compost sit for a couple of months without you adding to it all the time. You can make a compost heap with no food scraps at all if you want.

If you are looking for a solution to deal with food scraps mainly, look into bokashi bin systems, worm farms, keeping chickens or guinea pigs - or a combo of some or all of those things.

hope that's helpful to ya!