Composting provides a wide variety of benefits for your household and landscape. It can be done just about anywhere, from a small bucket under your kitchen sink to a large corner of your backyard. It enriches soil, saves money and gets rid of household waste. When it comes to what you can compost, there are hundreds of options. Tree and brush clippings, such as citrus peel and leaves, are an important part of a compost pile's nitrogen content.
Layer carbon materials under nitrogen materials always. Before placing citrus peels and leaves, add items such as sawdust, paper napkins, coffee grounds or tea bags, wood chips, and so forth.
Blanket dried citrus leaves about 6 inches deep on top of the brown materials. If you don't have enough citrus leaves, mix the leaves with equal parts or less straw or hay.
Add the water content to the compost pile, which is essential to start the composting process. Trickle it down the inside walls of the compost bin to reach all angles, as well as spritzing on top. The pile should be moist, not soaked or damp. This should happen about once a week, depending on your climate and if the pile is indoors or outdoors.
Apply a 4-inch layer of green citrus leaves and peels on top of the dried leaves to add a nitrogen component. You can also add other nitrogen items to this pile, such as grass, plant waste, manure, seaweed, aquarium water, weeds, coffee grounds, bone meal, fish scraps and vegetable peels.
Turn the layers with a pitchfork to let air into the composting process, which is essential for it to be successful. If there is no air, bacteria won't work with the water and compost. Do this once a week. After about four to six months, you should have compost readily available for use in your garden or landscape.