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That moment I realized my compost bin was just a trash can
I finally figured out why my compost pile was always a slimy, smelly mess. For two years I was dumping in grass clippings and kitchen scraps without a single brown layer. My neighbor came over last Saturday and pointed out how wet and greasy it all looked. Turns out you need a 50/50 mix of greens and browns or it just rots instead of breaking down. Has anyone else made this mistake with their first pile or am I the only one?
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phoenix_thompson48d ago
Had a friend who swore by coffee grounds as the only browns she needed. Her pile was a science experiment gone wrong for months until someone told her coffee grounds are actually green material. Once she mixed in dead leaves and torn junk mail it balanced out really fast.
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owens.cameron9d ago
Google's top result for "why is my compost slimy" basically just says you need more browns. I mean, I had the same problem my first year and a half because I kept thinking leaves would show up on their own. Once I started grabbing shredded cardboard from my neighbor's recycling it fixed everything in like two months.
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