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I began composting as I wanted to recycle my lawn clippings. I use a mulching blade and a bag so the clippings are smaller and less in quantity. I quickly found that I needed a lot of leaves to mix in with the clippings so that they don't mat, get moldy, hot and ammonia stinky (that's bad, right?). This takes a lot of leaves. The bins fill quickly and I neither moisten it or turn it enough because it takes until fall to have compost. This year I collected horse manure and began mixing this in. Last evening I went to bury some watermelon waste and to moisten and turn. The piles had compressed and as I dug into it the heat came pouring out, along with an intense ammonia plus horse manure odor. It was really steaming! I watered it down to cool it off and spread it out more so that the weight would not add to the compression. I also used the last of my leaves. Where have I gne wrong and what should I do know?
Sounds to me like you may have too many greens proportionately to browns, as that can cause that sour, ammonia smell. The heat is good, as that kills any weed seeds that may be in your mix, but you may need to mix in some more browns--things like , straw (not seedy hay), dry leaves, even shredded newspaper or cardboard in a pinch. If you want to compost cardboard, it is easiest if you wet it before tearing it up. Cardboard and paper won't add the nutrients that plant materials will, but can help you get it back into balance! Straw is nice because it lightens it up a lot, with lots of air in between. You can layer the heavy, wet things with a layer of straw to keep it airy.
If you have too many browns, as I sometimes do, adding a nice dose of grass clippings or manure will really heat it up and get it cooking again. Coffee grounds also count as a green, which seems contrary to what you'd guess. Sounds like you just went a wee bit too far in that direction.
Angie
(edited to correct that coffee grounds are a green, not a brown)
