Stinky Compost

I have been dutifully putting all matters green in my compost bin. It had become beautifully black and crumbly like all literature states is should be. I tipped the bin contents onto a newly made bed, but amongst the lovely compost was a sludgy mess that absolutely stinks - there is some vegetation that didnt break down and it dont 'alf pong bad! Smells like pig poo. The sludgy liquid has seeped all into the new flower bed I was planning. Will it continue to rot properly now it has air & be ok or do i need to dig it all out and start again?

[ February 23, 2005, 10:09 AM: Message edited by: Tulip ]

 

Would it by any chance be grass cuttings that you have emptied into your compost bin? If you do add them make sure you add only small quantities at at a time and mix them in or they will just turn into a stinky mass of slimey goo. I don't think you need to dig up what you have already put on your bed just dig it in a little - after all, it is organic and will break down eventually.

 

All matters green also need all matters brown (well almost) to balance things out. Greens are nitrogen and browns are carbon - an alternate layer of greens and browns (which are for example: shredded newspaper/kitchen roll, wet pine pellet kitty litter, fine bark chippings/cut up woody cuttings/trimmings) keep things balanced so the result isn't a horrid sludge
The heap needs to be kept warm - it will come to a halt in the winter months - and relatively dry (protected from becoming rainsoaked) however it also needs to be kept damp.

 

I used to keep a special compost bin for grass cuttings, and I must admit they do turn into a smelly slimy mess if left alone, but I used to wait until it turned brown, and then it can be cut out like a cake.
This I would spread around my marrow plants (which I would have planted out about about a month earlier), just over the area covered by the leaves, but keeping it away from the stem of the plant. Then water well in with a jet of water from a hose pipe. You must keep this moist from then on as the roots come up and feed on the muck. It dont half make em grow, works with cucumbers aswell