Summer composting is a bit like summer hosting. Things go great when everyone behaves — but the minute someone brings tuna salad to a barbecue, the vibe turns fast.
Your compost pile works hard. It’s transforming leftovers, trimmings, and garden scraps into gold. But give it the wrong stuff in hot weather and you’ll get a stinking, fly-riddled mess instead of rich, crumbly soil.
This list is here to save your nose, your neighborhood raccoons, and your future flower beds. A few things are better off in the trash or handled differently when the temperature rises.
Here are 8 things that don’t belong in your summer compost pile — especially if you’d rather not host maggots this season.
1. Cooked Food and Leftovers
Leftover rice? That crusty corner of lasagna? Tempting, but no. Cooked food is one of the fastest ways to turn a tidy compost pile into a fly-infested science project. In summer heat, it breaks down slower than you’d think and smells worse than you’d like. Add in the fact that every critter in the neighborhood will sniff it out, and you’ve basically opened a buffet for raccoons, ants, and anything else with a nose.
2. Dairy Products
Cheese, yogurt, sour cream — sounds like the makings of a snack, not compost. But toss any of that into your summer pile, and things go south fast. Dairy products turn rancid quickly in the heat, and once they start breaking down, they create that unmistakable “something died in there” smell. Not exactly what you want wafting across your garden while you’re watering the zinnias.
They also don’t compost evenly. Instead of blending in, dairy tends to clump, curdle, and sit there attracting flies, wasps, and the occasional very ambitious raccoon. It’s not pretty, and it definitely isn’t helping your compost work any faster. If it came from the fridge and would smell bad left on the counter for two days, it doesn’t belong in your pile — especially in summer.
3. Meat, Bones, and Fish Scraps
This one sounds obvious until someone drops a chicken wing into the compost and says, “Well, it’s organic, right?” Technically yes — but practically? Absolutely not. Meat and bones break down painfully slow, especially in backyard piles that don’t reach high temperatures. In summer, they rot fast, smell worse, and attract every fly, rat, raccoon, and stray cat in a five-block radius.
Fish scraps are even worse. That smell you’re imagining right now? Multiply it by three and add flies. Bones stick around for months. Maggots move in like it’s rent-free. And if you ever stir your pile and see something staring back at you, you’ll wish you just tossed that leftover drumstick in the trash.
4. Diseased Plants
It’s tempting to toss every dead or dying plant into the compost pile and call it a day. But if something in your garden went out in a blaze of fungus, mildew, or mystery spots, don’t recycle it — exile it. Summer heat doesn’t always destroy pathogens the way we wish it did. In fact, warm piles that don’t get hot enough can actually help some diseases survive and spread.
Blight, rust, powdery mildew, and other garden villains can hang around in a half-composted leaf and end up right back in your soil later. That means the problems you thought you buried come roaring back next season. If in doubt, bag it up and keep it far from your compost and your future tomatoes.
5. Weeds That Have Gone to Seed
Composting weeds isn’t a crime. But composting weeds that have already thrown a seed party? That’s asking for trouble. Summer heat won’t always kill those seeds — and in some cases, it just gives them a head start. Next thing you know, you’re spreading those same weeds all over your garden like some kind of botanical revenge plot.
If a weed is flowering or sporting little seed heads, it’s best to skip the compost altogether. Toss it in the trash or let it dry out fully in the sun before you even think about adding it to the pile. Otherwise, your compost bin becomes a slow cooker for next season’s invasion.
6. Glossy or Colored Paper
Newspapers? Great. Shredded bills? Perfect. That shiny grocery ad with neon fruit and cartoon steaks? Not so much. Glossy or colored paper often contains chemical coatings, petroleum-based inks, or even microplastics that don’t belong anywhere near your compost — especially when the summer heat starts breaking things down faster than usual.
In the best case, that stuff just slows everything down. In the worst case, it leaches unpleasant extras into your otherwise clean, rich compost. If it has a shine, a weird texture, or looks like it might survive a rainstorm, leave it out. Stick to plain black-and-white newspaper, unbleached cardboard, or paper bags if you want your compost to stay healthy — and unglazed.
7. Large Citrus Peels
A little zest? No problem. A mountain of orange rinds, lemon halves, and grapefruit skins? That’s where things get dicey. Citrus peels are thick, acidic, and slow to break down, especially in backyard compost piles that don’t get super hot. In summer, they tend to sit around stubbornly — and if you’ve ever lifted the lid on a bin full of sweaty oranges, you know it’s not pleasant.
They can also mess with your compost’s pH balance, making things less hospitable for the microbes doing all the real work. If you toss in a citrus peel or two, fine. But a week’s worth of margarita limes? Better in the trash or a separate, slow-going pile. Your nose and your worms will thank you.
8. Too Much Grass at Once
Grass clippings are great in theory — packed with nitrogen and perfect for balancing all that dry, crunchy stuff. But dump in a huge, wet pile of fresh clippings and your compost turns into a smelly, slimy mat faster than you can say “lawn day.” Summer heat only makes it worse, cooking the grass into a green sludge that suffocates your pile and attracts flies like it’s hosting brunch.
If you’re adding grass, sprinkle it in like seasoning, not like a casserole. Mix it well with browns — dry leaves, cardboard, shredded newspaper — and keep the layers loose. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck with a compost pile that smells like the inside of a forgotten gym bag by July.
Good Compost Doesn’t Have to Smell Like Regret
I used to think composting was just tossing stuff in a pile and walking away. Then one summer, I opened the lid and got hit with a smell I can only describe as “expired swamp.” A little trial and error (mostly error) later, and here we are: a compost pile that works, doesn’t smell like doom, and doesn’t lure in the neighborhood opossum.
The trick isn’t being perfect. It’s knowing what *not* to do. Summer’s already sticky enough without adding meat rot and citrus rinds to the mix. Stick to the good stuff, layer it right, and don’t be afraid to skip anything questionable.
Your compost will thank you. Your nose will thank you. And your plants? They’ll absolutely love you for it come fall.
Daniel has been a plant enthusiast for over 20 years. He owns hundreds of houseplants and prepares for the chili growing seasons yearly with great anticipation. His favorite plants are plant species in the Araceae family, such as Monstera, Philodendron, and Anthurium. He also loves gardening and is growing hot peppers, tomatoes, and many more vegetables.