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I finally made my own compost that didn't stink up the whole yard
I've always heard that compost piles are supposed to smell earthy, not rotten, but mine always smelled like a garbage can left in the sun. Last month I was turning my pile near the back fence in Atlanta and realized I had way too much wet grass clippings and not enough brown stuff like leaves or cardboard. I added some dry leaves from my neighbor's curb and started layering it right. Three weeks later the pile actually smelled like dirt and I found a big handful of dark crumbly compost at the bottom. Has anyone else struggled with getting the green to brown ratio right?
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oliviat1718d ago
Did you try adding shredded newspaper or cardboard too? That helped my pile stop smelling after I messed up with too many grass clippings last summer.
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patricia31717d ago
Oh yeah, cardboard is a lifesaver! I soaked mine in water first so it breaks down faster. @lopez.karen having store-bought stuff is easy but my pile ends up way richer in nutrients. You really feel the difference if you grow veggies.
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Three weeks to go from stinky to earthy sounds like a pretty fast turnaround to me, not really a crisis. You can just buy a bag of compost for like five bucks at Home Depot and skip all this fussing with neighbor's leaves and layering. Is your pile really that different from the cheap stuff you could grab at any garden center?
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