The trick that finally got my compost pile cooking was just adding more browns

My compost bin was a slimy, stinking mess for like 6 months. Nothing would break down and it just sat there. Then I read somewhere that you need at least 2 parts brown leaves or cardboard for every part green stuff. I started throwing in shredded Amazon boxes and dry leaves every time I added kitchen scraps. Now it actually smells like dirt and I got usable compost out of it last month. Has anyone else fixed a pile just by adding way more browns than you think you need?

3 comments

3 Comments

daniel_lane3012d ago

Your compost is the most productive thing in your yard" haha that's brutal but funny. My tomato plants are basically twigs with a few sad leaves hanging on, feel your pain there man.

ryan_gibson8412d ago

Oh man, the stinky slime pile (affectionately known as the "swamp of despair" in my backyard) was my reality for way too long. I think I was just dumping coffee grounds and veggie peels in there and calling it a day, which is basically a recipe for a science experiment gone wrong. Adding a mountain of shredded junk mail and dead leaves was the game changer, now it actually smells like a forest floor instead of a garbage can that got left in the sun. The funny thing is I used to think "more browns" meant like one handful of leaves, but no, you really do need a whole freaking pile of them for every bucket of greens. Now my compost is the most productive thing in my yard (which is saying a lot, considering my tomato plants are currently on life support).

brown.gavin12d ago

@ryan_gibson84 nailed it with the "swamp of despair" thing, I was basically running a slime factory in my bin for months. The trick that worked for me was grabbing a pile of dry leaves in the fall and stashing them in a garbage can so I'd have browns all winter. Now I just toss in a big handful of those leaves with every scoop of kitchen scraps and the pile stays warm and smells way better.