Neighbor Complaint- Stinky Yard. Advice??

[gtaus]

Here is a quick pic of my mobile compost pile garden cart idea. This picture was taken on the first days of trying out the idea. Since then, I now have all sides of the cart up and continue to add material to the cart until full. Then I take it out to the garden and dump it for "real" composting. Even after 2 or 3 weeks in the cart, there has been no smell with this system whatsoever.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Here is a quick pic of my mobile compost pile garden cart idea. This picture was taken on the first days of trying out the idea. Since then, I now have all sides of the cart up and continue to add material to the cart until full. Then I take it out to the garden and dump it for "real" composting. Even after 2 or 3 weeks in the cart, there has been no smell with this system whatsoever.

View attachment 1868502

That's pretty slick. And you can leave it out for a couple of days and nights without anything disturbing it? Around here, skunks, raccoons, opossums and possibly coyotes would be having a party in it....

 

[gtaus]

That's pretty slick. And you can leave it out for a couple of days and nights without anything disturbing it? Around here, skunks, raccoons, opossums and possibly coyotes would be having a party in it....

The garden cart is inside the chicken run with 2X4 wire fencing. So far, no predators have been noticed. But I don't leave rotting meat in the cart overnight, or anything else I think would attract varmints. Mostly kitchen scraps that are eaten by the chickens during the day. If I noticed predators having a party in the chicken run at night, I'd be sure to reevaluate this idea. My coop is locked up at night and is predator proof, or at least I don't think anything short of a bear could get in the coop. But yeah, the garden cart idea has worked out pretty good for me.

 

[LongLakeL]

Perhaps try hemp instead of pine shavings? Allegedly, it's a "Less dusty alternative to typical animal bedding options! Faster composting, superior odor and ammonia control. More Renewable. Less acidic." We're using this currently, but only for the past couple of weeks, so I can't say whether it truly composts more quickly. Best of luck!

 

[Hayduke27]

Hey everyone! Once again, thanks so much for all the advice! This is why I bring these questions here!

So there was a very interesting development in this, and I wanted to give everyone an update as it seems I got to the bottom of my stink mystery. As I had stated before, I managed this compost pile for years and never had any problems. Nothing had really changed over time, and this spring I was able to dig into the pile and get plenty of compost for my gardens. (FYI- This is a lazy man's compost pile in the corner of the yard, the chickens do all the turning and the worms take care of the rest).

Drum-roll please..............

So it turns out that my neighbor (the same one who contacted me about the smell) had a water line break in his yard over a year ago. It was in front of the meter, so he wasn't being charged for it and assumed the city would take care of it. However, nobody took care of it. Since then, it has been gushing millions and millions of gallons of water into the ground. About a month ago, my basement flooded. I'm a renter, and I called the landlord. Through a long couple of days of trying to figure out where the water was coming from, it was finally discovered that it was boiling up from the ground like a spring due to the newly established man-made aquifer thanks to the neighbor's broken water line. The ground had gotten so saturated that it made it all of the way to my property and began boiling up from below. He has fixed the water line, and over the past few weeks the ground has been drying out. You know what? The smell went away!

So yes, the problem was indeed that my compost was far too wet. The culprit, however, was boiling up from below my feet. Go figure

Things are getting very cold up here now, and the ground will be frozen pretty soon. Glad we found that leak before the freeze set in! Anyway, that's my story. Thanks again for all the helpful advice. I'm sure it will improve my manure management skills well into the future!!

 

[Compost King]

having the compost pile on the highest ground possible always helps.

 

[aart]

So it turns out that my neighbor (the same one who contacted me about the smell) had a water line break in his yard over a year ago. It was in front of the meter, so he wasn't being charged for it and assumed the city would take care of it.

HolyCrap!!!
He knew it was leaking and didn't report it?!?!?

 

[Hayduke27]

HolyCrap!!!
He knew it was leaking and didn't report it?!?!?

The city contacted him and told him it was leaking. So the city knew too! They thought he would fix it, he thought they were going to fix it. Meanwhile, a year went by and untold millions of gallons of water were blasted into the ground. It's just crazy!

 

[Compost King]

The city contacted him and told him it was leaking. So the city knew too! They thought he would fix it, he thought they were going to fix it. Meanwhile, a year went by and untold millions of gallons of water were blasted into the ground. It's just crazy!

look for abnormal foundation cracks, stuff like that leads to sinkholes

 

[aart]

The city contacted him and told him it was leaking. So the city knew too! They thought he would fix it, he thought they were going to fix it. Meanwhile, a year went by and untold millions of gallons of water were blasted into the ground. It's just crazy!

That is crazy...and doesn't CO have some water rationing issues?