Dried green leaves wouldn't be a 'brown'. Paper and card are fine. They supply the carbon which is needed to balance the nitrogen of the 'greens'.

The most important thing is to keep turning the compost. I have not gone out of my way to add browns or greens to my compost. I just go out and turn it and keep it moist.

Don't pick leaves from the plants in the park!! That will get you a ticket and you will deserve it.

Your city probably has free leaves and/or wood chips for you if you find out where they keep it. Usually the solid waste management/recycling agency is the place to start.

" I recently read that while such things add carbon they don't add many nutrients, and that brown leaves are far superior."

Unless you actually have them, they are not superior. Shredded paper will work just fine.

Compost without enough dry matter (browns) will turn stinky and anaerobic.

It is true that cardboard and paper have little nutritional value (ever tried to eat it?) They also have a tendency to form gloppy clumps rather than disperse throughout the compost. And, yes, fall leaves are the best dry ingredient - so try collecting bags from your neighbors and you can use them throughout the year. Even if they never make it out of the bag, they will decompose after a couple of years into leaf mold - the ideal compost.

If you have to purchase a dry ingredient try a bale of straw. Garden centers sometimes have them or go on Craig's List to find an agricultural source. Another inexpensive carbon source is a bag of wood pellets sold for wood-burning stoves. Dump a 40 pound bag into an airtight plastic container next to the compost bin. When you toss in scraps, just scoop an equal amount of pellets to throw in at the same time.

If you are using paper or wood pellets or shavings, assume that your compost will be light on nutrients, so add a Complete Organic Fertilizer (COF) to your garden along with the compost to supply missing nutrients.

Thanks for all the help.

I don't quite understand what the difference is between green leaves that are picked and allowed to dry out to become brown in the summer, and brown leaves that die and fall off the tree in the fall. I assume it has something to do with how the nutrients evolve as the leaf dies naturally on the branch? Can somebody explain?

In very simple terms a green leaf which is picked and dried still contains most of the constituent chemicals it has in life, including nitrogen, minus the water. An Autumn leaf returns its constituent chemicals to the tree so by the time it drops it is mostly just carbon.

That's right. A leaf that is getting ready to die and fall off a plant - either because it's autumn, or just the natural aging of an individual leaf - breaks down its chlorophyll and proteins and sends nitrogen, potassium, magnesium and various other minerals back to the main plant for reuse.

Thanks, did not know that.

I'm sure my neighbors are convinced that I'm completely bonkers (heck, I'm not entirely certain of my sanity,) but I routinely strip the leaves off of trees and shrubs to use as mulch, organic matter that gets tilled (turned) into soil, or as compost greens. Last year they watched me put every leaf off of a huge maple tree (that was eyeing malicious thoughts on my roof) into a trash can for later use lol. I let them dry, then just ran the branches through my hands so that the leaves fell into the trash cans. I then crumbled them into nearly dust where they were used for a few purposes, including being turned into clay soil at the beginning of spring (the worm count in those beds is off the charts!)

Right now, the leaves I'm stripping (as well as weeds and lawn cuttings) are being layered with the 8 month old wood chips that, after being sifted for its compost, haven't yet broken down fully.

I did a large Black Locust sapling yesterday which I had allowed to grow up in the middle of the yard. Very nice source of nitrogen those locusts.

Trees have that wonderful ability to draw nutrients from deep in the soil. They therefore don't compete as much for surface root zone nutrients and organic matter as do such resource stores as lawns. Less 'borrowing from Peter to pay Paul..." and locusts even less so.

Areas like where I live were so poorly managed over the last century. Without spending a small fortune, it takes effort, and ingenuity. to get soil into decent, sustainable shape. Yep, I may be crazy, but so far - one branch at a time - so good.

Oh, and the wood from the trees (even the small twigs for kindling) goes into heating the house. Yeah, yeah, particulates... I know... you pay my heating bills, or afford me renewables and I'm all for it lol. Besides, the CO2 from my wood is sequestered during the next growing season. Can't say that for neither coal nor natural gas.

Re: stove pellets and straw. Sometimes the stores selling bales of straw have a bunch of straw on the ground around where they are stacked. They might let you pick up a couple bags full (bring your own bags) free for the taking. Wood stove pellets and also livestock bedding (shavings or coarse sawdust) will both work and sometimes the 'farm & feed' stores that sell them will have torn or damaged bags they will practically give away.

Also if you have a woodworker friend or a cabinet/millwork shop you might get free sawdust. Just avoid treated lumber sawdust. Wood is a superbrown, CN ration 200-500 to one. You don't need a lot.