Fixing Smelly Compost Heaps

Part of the Video Series Compost

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Fix smelly compost heaps or compost bins by learning to give them enough oxygen and adding materials that are airy in this free gardening video.

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Fixing Smelly Compost Heaps
Hi. This is Yolanda Vanveen on behalf of Expert Village. In this series, we've learned all about composting and how to make a compost heap. The question I get a lot and one that, luckily, I haven't had a problem with is what to do when your compost heap stinks. You know, just like garbage, if it has a big pile of it and it's not getting any air, it starts to stink. But, there are some very easy solutions and with a compost heap, if it's smelling, it means it's not getting enough air. It's not getting oxygen. An easy trick is to just mix in some dried leaves, sawdust or anything that's really airy (even newspapers) in with your pile. Crumble them up and that way, it can get aerated a bit. Never add anything to your compost pile that is going to decompose that really stinks like meat or anything that is a milk product because it's dangerous to your compost pile. You don't want to do it and it's probably going to make it stink in time. So, just mixing it up with a pitchfork, adding sawdust and adding anything organic that is brown. So if it stinks, you need more brown material. Most of the time, green materials are the grass clippings and the leaf clippings and things that are green where as brown is once everything has dried (so, leaf clippings that you add are going to be brown). If you add a little bit of brown material, your compost heap should not smell anymore. So in the next segment, we will talk about how to make your compost heap into a flower bed.

About the Expert

Expert: Yolanda Vanveen is a third generation flower grower and sustainable gardener who lives in Kalama, Washington. Read More