Yup, you can use those yucky-smelling materials.

Last spring, a neighbour who had been trying to compost all winter in two plastic garbage cans (without drainage holes) approached me and asked if I would like to have the results of their household trash.

I said okay and hauled their trash over to my back yard. Dumped it overtop two lasagna beds, then quickly covered both beds with leaves from my leaf pile to reduce the rancid smell.

Both of those beds produced wonderfully well. There were no signs of pests or diseases; instead, I had plants growing up strong and healthy and full of energy.

I'd suggest trying an experiment, for yourself. Dump that garbage can on one area of your garden, cover the surface after dumping with leaves or another high-carbon material.

Then, leave it alone. Plant as you usually plant, and compare the area where the smelly stuff was dumped.

All the best,
-Patrick

thanks, patrick! i'll go for it.

i'm assuming that i should keep my trimmings from the very very invasive blackberry out of it, though??

Speaking only for myself, I don't compost invasive plants at all. There's Japanese Knotweed in the garden here and it goes straight into the trash to become landfill. I would never use it as a lasagna compost material.

Other people on this forum have described various ways to make invasives safe for composting, such as drying them thoroughly, or forcing them to rot in a closed plastic bag or under water, prior to composting. Never tried these methods myself, so I can't comment.

All the best,
-Patrick

Whether to put any invasive plant into your garden as a source of vegetative waste depends on what you use of that plant. Never put the roots of any invasive, or many other, "weed" where those roots can get nourishment or they will start to grow again. Some few "weeds" may be able to root (Ivy for instance) from nodes on the stems, but burying these deeply in the compost pile will stop that. There is not reason to put aggressive growth plants, or invasssive species, in plastic bags, or under water, prior to using them and there is no good reason to not use them since they often have, in the plant, valuable nutrients your soils can use, just handle them so they cannot grow again.

Creeping bermudagrass, Johnsongrass, and sandbur are three that I don't compost. Not sure what would render those "safe" ingredients.