My neighbor gave me advice on composting that cost me 3 months of work

Last spring, my friend Linda told me to just throw all my kitchen scraps into a pile in the backyard and turn it once a week. She said it would be black gold in a few weeks. I followed her advice for about 3 months and ended up with a smelly, slimy mess that attracted rats. Turns out you need the right ratio of greens to browns, and I was adding way too many wet food scraps without enough leaves or cardboard. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from well meaning folks about backyard composting?

3 comments

3 Comments

danielw8813d ago

That Linda advice is a classic rookie trap. It sounds so easy but the pile just turns into a wet, stinking mess with no air. You really need a good balance, like two or three parts browns to one part greens. Leaves, shredded cardboard, even torn up junk mail are your friends there. I made the same mistake with too much grass clippings and ended up with a hot, slimy pile that smelled like a swamp. Threw in a bunch of dead leaves and the whole thing sorted itself out in a couple weeks.

the_john12d ago

I saw some university extension service study once that said the ideal ratio is actually closer to 30:1 carbon to nitrogen by weight, which basically lines up with that 2-3 parts browns advice you gave @danielw88. But who's weighing their kitchen scraps, right? Just eyeball it and hope for the best.

grantschmidt12d ago

Well I'll be. I always thought just piling it up worked fine. Guess I was wrong.