Common beginner mistakes

Five mistakes account for nearly every failed pile: too small, too wet, too much of one material, too compacted, and giving up during the slow phase. All five are recoverable. Below: the practical detail on composting mistakes, and what most guides leave out.

A neglected compost bin with compacted sour material and standing water — composting mistakes — Composting mistakes.

1. The pile is too small

Under about a cubic metre, a pile cannot hold heat. It will still compost, just slowly and cold. If you want heat, build bigger or accept cold composting as the plan rather than the failure.

2. Too wet, no air

The most common single failure. Sodden, compacted, sour. Add browns generously and turn. Check what it is sitting on actually drains.

3. All of one thing at once

A whole lawn’s clippings, or a single delivery of one material. Layers of uniform material mat and go anaerobic. Mix, always.

4. Never turning, in a bin that needs it

Plastic bins compact under their own weight. If you never turn, expect two years rather than six months: a legitimate choice, but choose it deliberately.

5. Giving up at the boring stage

There is a long middle period where a pile looks like wet rubbish and does nothing visible. It is working. This is where most people conclude they have failed.

What is not a mistake: worms, woodlice, white fungal threads, a pile that cools down, or one that goes dormant in winter. All normal.

Symptom-first help: compost problems. Timescales: how long compost takes. Hub: how to compost.