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Hi Michelle here

On finally digging out my fourth allotment patch from some old land im using at the back of my parents, ive finally starting to back fill it with well rotted muck, organic matter etc. My dad has a huge pile of old grass cuttings behing the shed which i thought would be an excellent addition to mix in (some of it must be about 10 years old). On scraping off the top to the well rotted stuff below I noticed an awful smell. Is this normal as I thought well rotted compost of any kind shouldnt smell bad. Can I use it or should I look elsewhere? Sorry for the stupid question to all you regulars but im a complete novice at all this and will no doubt be asking lots more... so hope you can bear with me as I slowly learn the ropes.

Thanks

What sort of smell is it Mew? Chemical, animal or vegetable?

I would probably suggest you turn it and see what comes of the smell. If it disappears quickly upon contact with the air and light, then it should be ok. I guess the only concerns I might have, would be if there was any chance Dad tipped something into the pile that might have contaminated it... like some sort of oil or petrol based product maybe? Though I have noticed a few UK folk comment on odd activity with grass cuttings... must have something to do with the cold and snow, I'm guessing.

Ten years is a long time, I'd be expecting to find some good soil at the bottom of that, though. Good luck with it and your garden!

i second what boots said.

Give it a turn and a toss.

If it still doesn't seem to be rotting into compost, then try to spread the grass out and let it dry, then add it to your compost. It will then count as your brown/dry portions rather than wet portions.

If you decide to put loads into a compost bin, then wiggly wigglers do some organic stuff to sprinkle in the bin to help compost the grass - apparently grass rots differently to vegetable matter for some reason, so that's why it doesn't rot as nicely.

Good luck and don't worry about the silly questions - we all have them!!(and you'll probably find there's someone who's been wanting to ask the same question, but doesn't know how to phrase it, so you'll be helping them too)

Hi Boots and TFF

Err I guess the best way to describe the smell is almost sewer/drains like - its not pleasant. I'll ask my Dad if he put anything on there other than grass but in the meantime I'll do as you suggest and give it a turn / toss and see what happens.

Thanks for the help folks - tis very much appreciated

PS is it too late now to add a winter manure? If not what would you recommend, if yes, what else would you recommend? I have lots of cardboard I can put down to suppress the weeds.

if you do use it put it where you are going to plant your spuds as grass is acidic as it breaks down and spuds like an acidic soil. Good Luck!

When I was a boy I jumped onto what I thought was a pile of fresh cut grass. Unfortunately, underneath the top layer of fresh stuff was the rotting grass of previous cuts. It stank, and so did I for about a week. Rotting grass is like that.

It also occurs to me that if the pile has never been turned, then inside it might be rotting anaerobically, and that is much smellier.

I agree with Stew, definitely anaerobic digestion - mix in a bit of hign carbon stuff like dry straw and give in a good turn like Boots says and give it a couple of weeks!

Nev