What is compost? Click me to watch the video
Compost is made of decomposed organic material. It is very easy to make compost at home for people who love gardening and organic farming. It’s ingredients are such items that are of organic nature such as uncut vegetables and fruits, rotten vegetables and fruits, plant leaves, shredded twigs, and kitchen scraps like egg shells.
Compost is used to enrich nourish fertility of garden soil. Compost is not a substitute for garden soil. It should not be replaced completely with garden soil. In fact , the ideal way to use compost is to mix it with garden soil at the right proportion from time to time to give nutrients to plants.
How To Make Compost From Kitchen Waste For Your Balcony Garden
How To Make Compost From Kitchen Waste For Your Balcony Garden?
Step 1
Take a big pot that has good capacity for air circulation in it. The size of pot chosen should be as per your requirement of quantity of compost to be made. For air circulation, it should have fine holes in the pot at various places. The earthen pot with holes already present at the time of manufacture is the best choice for this. However, plastic pots or containers can also be used in cases where the climate is cold.
Step 2
Separate your edible kitchen waste that is of organic nature from other waste. The other waste of inorganic nature like plastic materials, plastic caps, polythene bags, plastic boxes are of no use for making compost. These plastic materials are not biodegradable and can not be recycled. Keep in mind that only biodegradable materials can be used to make compost. So we have to take vegetable peels, fruit peels, small amounts of wasted cooked food , rotten fruits and vegetables in the perforated container. We can also call it wet waste.
Step 3
If it is possible, collect dry organic matter like dried leaves, sawdust and mix with the organic waste in the container. We can call it dry waste.
Click here to find an excellent article on segregation of wet waste and dry waste.
Step 4
Create a layer at the bottom of the pot or container with a layer of soil.
Step 5
Add organic biodegradable mixture created at the above step in layers alternating wet waste with dry waste.
Step 6
Cover the pot or container with a plastic sheet or a plank of wood so that moisture and heat will be retained inside the pot or container.
Step 7
Every few days, keep adding a little water so that the mixture will be moist. We have to add water in minimum quantity just to retain moisture so that it will not become completely dry.
Step 8
Every few days, keep turning the organic mixture up and down to provide aeration. If the mixture is becoming too dry, keep sprinkling small water to keep it moist.
Step 9
After 2 or 3 months, the organic mixture should start forming compost. It will be dry, dark brown and crumbly like a dust powder. It will smell like earth.
Summary
Making compost for your balcony garden or organic farm from kitchen waste is easy and it has a small learning curve. It just requires your good amount of time and energy. If you are doing small-scale organic farming, it is one of the must have skills. However , another alternative is that you can buy ready-made compost from the market.
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