For Summer browns I use horse stable bedding. Lots of sawdust and shavings in it. I also get some seagrape leaves but not all that many.

I think even dried grass is a green but it's less potent and slower heating then fresh wet clippings. You can compost straight grass clippings but you need to turn it several times a week.

Not sure that you need to "seed" the lasagna. The microbes are in the soil. It wouldn't hurt to add some compost to the mix anyway though.

Wood chips from a tree-pruning company make good mixer.

Dried grass means naturally browned dry grass in the fall - grass clippings are still "green" even when they are dry.

All the microbes you need are floating in the air and on the material.

Fresh grass clippings

The nitrogen is in the grass clippings and the bacteria is on the grass clippings. The bacteria will begin to multiply (every 20 minutes?) until the conditions become unfavourable for them do so (drying out). This leads to some loss of N but the vast majority is still in the clippings, ergo fresh cut and relatively fast dried grass clippings are considered a 'green'.

'Dead grass' clippings

When grass goes dormant or dies, the N is not replenished in the blade of the grass leaving mainly the C component, ergo dead grass clippings are more of a 'brown'.

Keep in mind there are 'ranges' for each scenario so a growing grass that is cut when still damp (rain or dew) has a greater chance of more bacteria proliferation and loss of N (farmers don't usually cut hay/alfalfa when the stuff is wet). Length of clippings can also be a factor, more breaks in the blade gives the bacteria more access. A lawn that is frost killed may preserve some of the N in the blades before the grass had a chance to go dormant by itself.

So there are variables and there really is no hard fast science. This is why most publications provide a range of C:N as opposed to a concrete number.

Lloyd

P.S. This is my understanding of the subject and I could be full of bovine scatology. ;-)

Do you throw away paper, paper towels, Kleenex, cardboard boxes (cereal, crackers)--these can all be shredded (paper) or torn up a bit( thin cardboard) so you recycle and compost. Shredded paper from work. Of course, you may not have enough to balance "tons" of fresh grass.

Dried out green grass = less moisture and less caking so less stinky anaerobic decomposition--so if you have a way to spread out grass in some area to dry and then add, it mixes better, balances the moisture of the other grass, and can be a way for you to "handle" larger amts of grsss than if all fresh/wet at one time. Also depending on how you acquire the grass and in what amts, you can sheet compost grass layers an inch or so at a time, let dry, add more so again, less clumping and stinking.

Sawdust, Aged wood chips, straw. Depending on how they are handled grass clippings can be a "green" or a "brown". Hay, a dried grass, is considered a "green".

The problem as I said is that I am in the suburbs. Maybe I am not a good scavenger yet but I don't know anyone to get "horse stable bedding" or "Wood chips from a tree-pruning company" or "Sawdust, Aged wood chips, straw" from. I don't want to sound like I'm whining, I just don't know how I would acquire that stuff.

That said, I can definitely toss our napkins and paper towels into a separate can for the compost. And is shredded office paper ok? I see bags of it in the hallway sometimes, and get an itch to scoop them up.

Thanks!

Almost every tree trimming company would be happy to dump some of the wood chips they make when trimming trees for you for free because they need to take them to a landfill where they pay to dump them. Look in your yellow pages for "Tree Service" and call some and ask about getting wood chips.
Many areas have a woodworking shop that generates a lot of sawdust and again you may be able to get some for free (some of those places use that for fuel) because again they must pay someone to haul that waste product away.

Are there stables or horse boarding facilities anywhere in the area - (look in the phone book). How about tree trimming companies - (look in the phone book, or if you spot them around town stop and talk to them). Feed stores often carry baled straw - (look in the phone book).

The thing is there are countless ways to aquire composting materials around towns and cities, you just have to talk to people. If you do, I'll guarantee you will get the materials you need no matter the size of your operation. Good luck!

Greg
Nevada

if you are in subburbs -- how about cardboxes from every possible store or offices around you? Most usually pile them in the back by the loading dock. Just make sure they are not glossy boxes, but plain brown boxes.

They are easier to tear to pieces when they are wet - I let my boxes sit outside in the rain, for quick and easy soak.

You are right, this time of year it is harder to acquire browns than in the fall when leaves are readily available.

The primary component of browns that I use in the summer time is shredded junk mail. Though I probably wouldn't use that on a lasagna bed, it would probably look like crud.

I did just get a bale of straw from a friend of mine who bought on at the local landscapers. She had reseeded a disturbed area of her yard, bought a bale of straw for mulch and then only used a bit of it. She was complaining of what to do with the rest of the bale. I gladly took it off her hands.

I would check with a local landscape business. They probably know where you can get a bale of straw.