That moment I realized my composting was wrong

I thought I was doing great with my backyard compost for 2 years, just tossing in kitchen scraps and yard waste. Then I dug into the bottom last month and found a slimy, stinky mess with zero breakdown of the apple cores I threw in back in June. Anyone else get shocked by how wrong their method actually was?

3 comments

3 Comments

robert_rodriguez661mo agoMost Upvoted

Man I felt that pain too! @dakota_taylor39 is totally right about the chopping thing, that was my biggest mistake as well. I started cutting everything into tiny pieces and mixing in shredded cardboard every time I added greens. Also turned out I never had enough airflow so I drilled holes in the sides of my bin and that helped a ton. Now my compost actually looks like dirt instead of swamp mud after a few months.

dakota_taylor391mo ago

Wait, you went two years thinking it was working? I did the same thing for over a year before I figured out mine was basically a stinky wet pile of trash. I kept tossing in whole fruits and veggie scraps without chopping them up, and I never added enough brown stuff like leaves or cardboard. When I finally dug down, I found a whole avocado pit and some eggshells that looked brand new. Turns out I was basically just creating a science experiment in a mud pit. Now I chop everything small, layer in dry leaves, and actually mix it up weekly.

white.seth1mo ago

That avocado pit discovery hits home, I found a whole ear of corn in mine after a year of neglect.