Hi folks, I"m new here and on the trail of answers re: composting. I hope I'm in the right section of the forum.

Last year my husband got me a nice barrel composter. I began filling it, following directions. I used only vegetable matter, leaves, and turned it once a day.

Within about 6 weeks, the contents smelled very bad. It wasn't draining properly so I think it got too wet. Overall, it was just amazingly stinky and we couldn't do much with it. It wintered this way, and still smelled awful when spring first came. I turned it on it's side to drain it completely. Finally it seems to stink less. I did empty the contents into my garden yesterday and get to start over.

Does this sound abnormal or like I did something wrong? How can I make good compost in a barrel composter?