HELP!! my compost doesnt look right!?

okay. this is my first year with the whole composting and organic vegetable garden. i love everything about it. its very relaxing and also rewarding to see my garden with tons of veggies. my compost bin is in a ten gallon paint bucket with no holes. the lid is a piece of heavy tile (i lost the real lid..oops!) i put in stuff like dead leaves, green leaves, fruit, coffee grounds, old veggies ect. it looks really wet, like soupy and dark brown and gross. it molds over on the top and when i stir it, its just brown watery stuff with chunks of old rotton food floating around...what did i do wrong!!? im going to start over and maybe add holes? what about dirt and newspaper or printer paper? what can i do to keep the consistency normal and make good compost for my vegetable garden? what should it look like? thanks for your help!

It's too wet and doesn't have any air getting to it. What you've got going there is anaerobic decomposition, and as you've noticed, it's a mess!

First of all, your bucket is too small. Compost piles need to be fairly large (1 cubic yard or so) in order to keep enough internal heat. You can compost in a large trash can, but you have to drill lots of 1/2 inch holes in the sides, bottom and lid of the trash can, and stir the composting materials up once a week or so.

Second of all, you have too much water and not enough air in there. The compost pile should be sort of dampish but not sopping wet. If you're using a trash bin, it needs drainage holes at the bottom. I prefer to use a cylinder made of a ten-foot length of hardware cloth (wire mesh) with the ends connected. Stand the cylinder up and fill it with materials, and soon enough, you'll have compost.

Third of all, most of the materials you have in there are "greens" - high nitrogen sources with lots of water in them, that get messy and stinky when they rot. You need to mix them with "browns" - paper is the easiest to get, any kind of shredded paper or cardboard will do, but dried leaves and grass, straw, sawdust, dryer lint, and so on are also good. Try to put as much different stuff in the compost as possible to get varied nutrition. I advise saving this year's fall leaves in black plastic bags (use the vacuum setting on a leaf blower/vac to collect and shred them). Then you can mix them with next year's greens to make good compost. or just use them as mulch. Fallen leaves are like gold in your garden; don't let the trash man take them away!

You don't need to put in dirt, though it helps if the compost pile is built in contact with the soil. All the micro organisms that you need to make the compost get there through the air, rain, or are on the materials to begin with.

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The Nitty Gritty Of Starting A Compost

Composting has been around for many years as an easy way to add nutrients to a garden, but the activity is also a great way to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in our landfills. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that as much as 24% of the solid waste in landfills is comprised of food scraps and yard cuttings, which could be composted instead. Composting is a simple step that you and your family can take to help take care of the earth.

To begin your foray into the world of composting, you will need a bin. While containers aren't technically needed for composting, they do improve its aesthetics, and help keep pests out of your pile. You can build your own simple container, or invest in a large bin or tumbler, depending on how much work you want to put into your composting.

Place your bin in the backyard or in some other place where it isn't too noticeable. If you don't maintain your compost properly, it can start to smell bad and attract pests—neither of which your neighbors will appreciate. On the other hand, you'll want your compost to be convenient for you and your family. If it takes 10 minutes of trekking through bush to get to the compost, no one will want to maintain it.

You will also want the container to be located in a spot where there's a bit of shade. Shade will keep your compost from overcooking in the sun, which can turn into a stinky pile. You'll also want to put your compost within easy reach of the hose, as you'll need to water the heap regularly.

Once you have chosen a location for you bin, you'll need to collect what are referred to as "green" and "brown" materials. The "greens" refer to things like grass cuttings, plant trimmings, food scraps like fruits and veggies, coffee grounds, and rinsed egg shells (no meat or dairy please). "Brown" materials include dry leaves, strips of newspaper, wood chips, straw, and cardboard.

The green ingredients add nitrogen to your compost pile, while the browns produce carbon—both of which are necessary for successful composting. Make sure that all ingredients you add to the pile are relatively small in size, as this will speed up their decomposition.

Start your compost by adding a layer of green materials to the bin. If you don't have enough food scraps collected yet, just add whatever yard clippings you have available for now. Next, add a layer of your brown ingredients. These will neutralize the smells that green materials can produce, as well as reduce the number of flies and bugs that your bin attracts.

Now that you have your green and brown materials together, you need to encourage the growth of microorganisms. These microscopic critters break down both the brown and green materials, speeding up their natural decomposition, and turning your scraps into compost.

To get your bacteria growing, you need to add a bit of water to your pile. Unfortunately, gauging how much water to add to your compost heap can be tricky business. If you add too much water, the pile becomes slimy and smelly. Water it too little, and the bacteria are unable to survive, leaving your compost pile stagnant.

You want your compost pile to be damp, but not sopping. If you think you've added too much water, add more of your brown ingredients to reduce excess moisture.

Oxygen is also necessary for the survival of microorganisms. To maintain adequate oxygen levels, you must aerate your compost bin on a monthly basis. You can do this with a pitchfork or other large garden tool, simply mixing your pile as if you were making a cake. If you have a tumbler-style composter, then you just have to turn the crank.

As the microorganisms happily chomp their way through your vegetable scraps, they produce heat. This heat "cooks" the ingredients in the bin, quickening their transformation into usable compost.

If you can maintain correct oxygen, water, carbon, and nitrogen levels in your bin, you will have completed compost within a few months. You will know that the compost is ready to add to your garden when it resembles soil. It should be dark in color and smell like dirt.

Once the compost is ready, just add it to your garden or to potted plants. Compost provides plants with valuable nutrients and protects them from drying out. It can also help maintain a healthy soil pH, and help protect your plants from disease. Composting gives you all this, and is a great way to reduce, reuse, recycle.

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