You’ve got extra vegetable scraps, and some dry leaves around your plants that you were saving up to make compost but don’t know where and how to start. We’re here to help you!
It’s a mixture of degraded substances that acts as a fertilizer for the soil. Being made from organic substances for organic use, this makes it an excellent natural additive for soil.
As a fellow plant parent myself living in an urban setting, we have our own limits. Like,
Worry not, these create a perfect opportunity for some gold soil!
Making compost almost feels like cooking a recipe.
Except it takes a few months.
Good old things take time to happen, breakdown of organic matter too takes time as it’s an unhindered process occurring with the help of good bacteria and microbes.
To one’s surprise, it’s super easy.
AND IT’S ABSOLUTELY NOT AS MESSY AS IT SEEMS
Thousands of microbes, bacteria, and fungi work in sync.
They consume food waste, and oxygen present and in return produce heat and carbon dioxide.
This results in increased heat in the compost, which further increases the speed of the process!
Our job is to provide these organisms with their food and the right conditions to thrive.
Shall we get started?
These include dry leaves, fallen leaves, and twigs. Cardboard is considered a great source of dry waste along with newspapers. However, heavily printed papers and other forms should be avoided so as to reduce the leaching of chemicals in the compost. These form the nitrogenous part of the compost.
The charm of the whole recipe!
While microbes are not necessary to add as they always find their way around. But to increase the speed of the process some users recommend adding jaggery or curd. These ingredients contain healthy bacteria and microbes that truly kick start a newly compost setup.
Some also recommend using Trichoderma, it’s a healthy soil fungus that speeds up the breakdown process and also provides protection to the plants growing around it later on.
Water is the buffer for an ideal environment here.
The amount of water or one should specify as ‘moisture’ is of major importance in the setup.
While a lot of new users make the mistake of adding too much or too little of water. This leads to sogging or a really dry environment where microbes are unable to thrive. And thus attracting all sorts of insects and smells!
pH determines the acidity or alkalinity of the soil.
7 is neutral- as most plants like their soil to be.
pH between 1-7 is acidic- which plants like hibiscus, hydrangeas need.
While 7-14 is basically alkaline- plants like lavender, blueberries love it.
By simply adding more substances of which pH we need.
Like adding more nitrogenous substances like leaves, wood chips, leaf mold can lower the pH.
And aerating the compost can significantly increase the pH.
With that, comes out next condition to discuss,
There are 2 types of microbes and organisms,
By mixing the compost every once a while, or when you feel that the compost is getting too hot or else it’s not necessary.
An ideal temperature for making compost is 32°C TO 60°C and usually this temp reaches automatically. So you needn’t worry. But low temperature (<18°C) significantly decreases or inactivates the majority of microbes needed for organic degradation.
Making compost as such does not require light or even sunlight!
This was one of my doubts when I started learning about composting. But don’t fret! Microbes here don’t need sunlight and in fact, heat from sunlight can increase the temperature than it already is. This leads to overheating and microbes might just die at a certain temperature and this could lead to rotting, therefore foul smelling.
So an ideal place for compost would be a corner of your balcony or near your window. Where there is shade and proper aeration.
One can also use earthen pots with drilled holes at the bottom.
Around 1-2 weeks later, you might feel the level of the compost has decreased. That’s because the microbes are munching on them and breaking them down!
And that’s when you’re supposed to continue adding a layer of wet and dry waste, again keeping in mind to keep the top layer covered with dry waste.
8. As 2-3 months pass by following these steps along with occasional mixing if there is imbalance in aeration, you might notice the material in the container is turning dark and starts to smell earthly. Which also reminds you of your native place’s soil 😉
That’s when you know, your compost is ready!
You can sieve the bigger parts that haven’t degraded yet and again add them to the same container.
Rest finer particles can be used as your ‘Golden soil’ for the plants!
Hence, this cycle continues further on!
Right from step 2.
I’ve had this doubt since the beginning and I see numerous people avoiding making compost exactly for this reason.
Like, I can completely understand having insects around at home followed by a foul smell that might as well disturb the neighbours.
But trust me, it’s all about balance!
With the right ratio of wet (organic matter) and dry wastes (nitrogenous matter) there can never be any of these problems.
And if at all there is, fear not! These can be solved very easily.
While it’s sometimes beneficial, ants can be annoying. There are natural and chemical methods for keeping them away.
If the compost seems too dry, add water as sometimes ants find their way through the dry wastes.
As Saurav Saran one of the members says,
“It’s best to keep turning the compost to aerate as well as repopulate degrading bacteria mixed well in biomass.
Turning will disturb ant colonies. Constantly disturbed ant colonies will automatically leave the compost pile.”
Adding borax powder/ turmeric or diatomaceous earth could also work. But what most of the users suggest is to stick to the natural methods after all, it’s all a work of nature.
In the end I’d like to say, composting is the easiest way to reuse, reduce and recycle our kitchen waste!
And I wish everyone knew how easy it is!!