Composting
Table of Contents
This page was created based on "Home Composting 101" a guide from Kalpavriksha Farm's site.
Composting can be done either using pit or containers. In our garden, we have a wiremesh container bin. The wiremesh was earlier used in the front gate for the past 15+ years. I created the bin using the strings that come with Modern bread.
Do's and Dont's
- Peels must be chopped evenly before adding them to the compost. This helps quicken the process of breakdown of the organic matter.
- Eggshells can be added by crushing it before adding them to the compost.
- Coffee grounds, tea powder works well with composting too.
- Never add cooked food, dairy products, meat and bones.
- One may add white papers but not printed papers or heavily coated paper as they may contain lead.
- Adding ash to compost enrich the quality of the compost, maintains alkalinity.
- Charcoal from Ironing shops acts like sponge absorbing extra moisture. They also have the ability to store nutrients and release them slowly when added to the soil.
- Sprinkling sour buttermilk improves and increases the microbial activity thus increases the rate of composting.
Pit composting
- Dig a pit or a trench in the corner of the garden.
- Start dumping kitchen waste (veg scraps, fruit peels etc), garden waste (dried leaves, twigs, grass cuttings), animal waste (cow dung, cow urine etc)
- Sprinkle enough garden soil to cover the waste.
- Repeat previous two steps and keep repeating the process till the pit is full.
- Sprinkle a little water to keep the pile moist aiding the microbes to work their magic.
- Gently stir the pile periodically to aerate.
Basically dump garden waste, sprinkle soil and repeat. Sprinkle water if needed and stir the pile periodically.
Container composting
Materials required
- a perforated container.
- Brown matter (for carbon):Dried leaves, cardboard pieces, saw dust, coco peat, dry soil, sand, peanut shells, rice husk etc.
- Green matter(for nitrogen):Fresh vegetable peels and fruit peels (Avoid strong acidic peels like citrus, lemon, garlic and ginger)
Procedure
- Put a layer of carbon/brown matter (twigs, coconut fibers etc.) to form the bottom most layer of the perforated container.
- To the wet kitchen waste (that is drained of all excess water), add half its volume of ‘browns’. Mix well and make sure that the resulting matter is moist but not soggy.
- Add this to the container and cover with thin layer of browns and close the lid. This layer prevents flies and other insects from visiting the pile.
- Repeat the previous two steps every time kitchen waste is added.
- Maintain the moisture level of the compost and do check it every day.
- Stir the pile as often as you can to allow a lot of air.
It might take 2 to 3 months for the compost to get ready. When it is fully ready, one can see black powdery matter. Sieve the contents and add the big pieces that need to break down further to the next batch of waste for composting.
Container rotation
- When the first container gets full, start in a new container and follow the same procedure.
- Keep stirring the compost pile in the first container throughout the process. The pile will become hot in its initial phase.
- By the time the second container becomes full, it is possible that the first pile cools down and the contents look dark and half composted.
- The partly composted matter can be transferred into a jute sack/rice sack for further composting making the container available for a fresh batch.
- If there are more containers to spare, keep using newer ones to start the process and retain the compost in the bin until all of it is completely done.