Cornell and most web sites say used coffee grounds are a C:N ratio of 20:1, if that is what the '%' in your OP was asking. If not, sorry, many people prefer to avoid any discussion of C:N, or greens vs. browns. I'm afraid the whole leaves will not do much to generate heat with the grounds, leaves must be shredded to break down quicker. I shred my leaves four times with my mower (when my chipper/shredder is broken). When the Starbucks grounds were quite wet, I used to break open the bags and let them dry in the rubbermaid containers in the garage or basement. If you kept them too many weeks, a white fungus-like growth began. I remember a woman a few years back who wrote on this forum that she found a mix of grounds and paper worked well -- or at least 'smelled good'.

My source for pure manure appears to have dried up, but I've found a closer source for manure. This, however, is mixed strongly with sawdust. I read up that sawdust will leach out the nitrogen of the manure and actually stunt plants unless supplemented with a strong nitrogen source. I went to my local garden store and found that they had no idea what I was talking about and the only thing close to the Ohio State recommended level of 34-0-0 was chemical lawn fertilizer. I was talked into getting some blood meal, good but expensive and only 12-0-0. I decided to use it in a couple of small areas with the lasagna method but to go ahead and get the lawn fertilizer as I have over 60' of fence that I need to improve as the soil appears sterile. I intend to put Virginia creeper along the fence and hope it does get invasive as that would save me money. :) I don't have any problem combining my love for organic gardening with the addition of some chemicals...if in the long run they benefit the soil and are not toxic. It looks like my compost pile is going to get interesting and I've also decided to do some lasagna beds closer to the house for this year until I can get the compost cooked and find and afford the Virgina creeper. Thanks for all your input. This thread is fascinating. Here is a link that might be useful: Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet

If you want the answer- read ahead. If you want to make good compost- then just skip to the last paragraph. Any compostable will have some amount of carbon and some amount of nitrogen. When it has a fair amount of N, we call it a green, and when it doesn't- we call it a brown. The ratio of green:brown in a pile therefore, can only be calculated by weighing the compostables separately (by item), knowing the % of each item that is N or C, multiplying to find the weight of N or C added for each item, add up all the weight of N, then the weight of C and figure out the ratio. Remember- that's by weight. many things have variable water content and must therefore be dried first. If you go through all the calculations- it won't be 30:1 unless you really know the ratios of C:N in each item, and the water content- which many times will require an analysis. WHEW! OK- now that you know that a brown has a lot of C, and a green has a lot of N, and how to calculate the C:N or N:C ratio- is all that necessary, and how does someone normally do it in the real world? In general- you want more browns than greens. Anywhere from 3:1 to 1:1 ratio of browns:greens by volume works. If the browns are really fluffy and dry- a bit more towards 3:1. For sawdust- closer to 1:1 ratio. Mix it up. Moisten as you build the pile- not too wet. If you have a good amount- like a cubic yard- and it doesn't heat up- you need greens or moisture. If it stinks and it's not sopping wet- then you need browns. That's it.

Thanks for the replies. Dan ... the dirt was indeed placed directly on the native soil, although calling it "native" might be misleading because it was backfilled against the front porch when the house was built 3.5 yrs ago. The width of the bed is about 6-7', and the distance from the bed surface to the previous surface is probably a couple of feet under the tree. The bed is held in place by a retaining wall about 3' high on one side and the front porch on the other side. I'll try to snap a photo and post it. Ken ... you may be right about the sprinkler, but I didn't want to trust my diligence in watering it so I had dedicated heads put on all of the plantings in the primary landscaping beds ... the head seems to soak the area pretty well, but my wife and I were planning to investigate as you suggested to see if we needed to do something different ... The heads are small adjustable units that spray a continuous wedge-shaped curtain of water ... we have this head placed about 18" from the trunk so that it covers a fairly wide swath around the base of the tree. In the hot season, I run it twice (with a break to allow the water to soak in) every other day ... other times I back it off to every third or every fourth day. The tree is about 30" tall, with a canopy about twice that in one direction and about 3' in the other (it's growing mostly in one direction, which is why we selected it for this area). The trunk is perhaps 2-3" dia, so it's a fairly solid little guy. Thanks again for the feedback ... I still have so much to learn!