Although they may look green, unless they are high in protein, they are browns. The beans will be greens but lettuce and herbs will be brown.

Don't bother chopping them.

Thanks

good to know.. I guess I need a list of greens, would have never guessed lettuce is a brown...

um. You sure about that? I'm pretty sure all of those are greens to one extent or another. Most non-dried vegetable matter is a green

"Most non-dried vegetable matter is a green"

Actually, whether something has been dried or not doesn't really have much of an effect on whether it is a green or a brown. The key is how much N (or protein) there is.

Since the ideal ratio of C:N is 30:1, anything that has a higher C:N ratio than 30:1 is considered a brown and anything that has a ratio lower than that is considered a green (even if, like coffee grounds, it is brown in color).

Things that are closer to the 30:1 ratio are sometimes called weak greens or weak browns and things that are farther away are sometimes called strong browns or strong greens.

When you dry something, most of what is lost is water (hydrogen and oxygen). A small amount of N may be lost, but mostly the change is in water, so the C:N ratio doesn't change much.

I think something like lettuce is mostly water, but generally plants that are growing are greens and plants that died are browns, so I would think lettuce would be a green, but since so much of it is water, I don't think it makes a big difference. Something like lettuce will probably reduce to nearly nothing very quickly.

When I say that growing plants are greens and plants that died are browns, I mean plants that died on their own. If the plant was growing and you pulled it up, it would still be a green.

Lettuce would be a green. The water content doesn't matter.

Here is a link that might be useful: list of greens and browns

Most all plant leaves, and lettuce is a plant leaf, are green in color partly because of the high level of Nitrogen in that leaf. All of these also have a goodly amount of Carbon and it is the relationship of these that makes the C:N ratio, so something with a C:N ratio of 15:1 has a relatively high quantity of N while something with a C:N ratio of 456:1 has a relatively high quantity of Carbon.

Here is a link that might be useful: C:N ratios

I wasn't implying that the water content made it a green, but I was under the assumption that some of the other things in a plant that could make it a green volatilize off or break down when it dried. It's not as if protein is the only nitrogen material in the plant It's just one of the more potent ones.

Try to layer it all with the greens and browns if possible. My hubby collected many bags of greens from the produce manager last year, I sorted through everything and made a layer of the greens (lettuce, bok choy, celery, etc) and layered them with shredded leaves, the piles heated up quickly and were kept slightly moist. You got a good deal, and if you keep it slightly moist, if will all decompose quickly. As for the green beans, don't chop them up, they will decompose without all that extra work. Hope that helps.

Alberta

oh dear

this is all so complicated

"oh dear

this is all so complicated "

Not really. It can be, but what I do is to mix a variety of ingredients up and try to get them moist. If it stinks, I add something like shredded paper and/or turn it to give it more are. If it doesn't heat, I add something like used coffee grounds and/or turn turn it to add more air.

It's actually hard to get it completely wrong, because no matter what you do, eventually, IALBTC (It All Leads Back To Compost).

Right on

Thanks bpgreen

:)

When in doubt, pee on it

yeeeehawww---my 16 y/o just started a job at the local grocery and he's already met the produce mgr for his whacko dad ---

plan on hittin him up for the out of date throw aways they have----

will keep you posted ----JB