My new interest – Compost

I have been away so long.. it takes some will power to get out of the mental block.
All these months I have been busy with illness, festivals, visits, trips, repairs , ruins (garden) and despairs. More on my activities in some later post.
Meanwhile, I was very impressed by the idea of composting at home. The terrace was being re-done, so I had lot of time to clear debris, clear plants and find a few bins lying around. I wanted to do my bit for the eco – system.
I gathered enough know-how to start a home-compost project. I looked for daily-dump pots, found them to be too expensive. But never fear, market is near.. my local pot-guys near the house had some big pots, some of them cracked.. I grabbed them, and arranged them to receive my daily dump from kitchen.

My own Daily Dump

Closer view

For the brown part of the waste, the trees around the house were obliging , ( being the autumn season!) by filling the compound with leaves. My maid gave solid support by gathering them and filling the sack , to haul them to the terrace. So it started.. Since the pots were on the second floor terrace, the family and visitors were spared of any unpleasant smell. Another positive result was, the trash collector was pleased that we were turning out negligible amounts of waste.
However, I faulted on mixing the contents, mixing enough wood ash and other helpful ingredients.
I thought that I will improve as I learn more.. Anyway to make the long story short, the composting is taking place nicely, though a few gnats, and worms were around for some time. The smell of the mixtures is pleasing enough. I am waiting for the new plants to sprout after this insane heat here, and then try out the final product.

In Hyderabad, I did not find many helping gardeners who are ready to share their failures and successes. I once again am feeling a tinge of envy of people in Bangalore , Mumbai , Delhi and Pune 🙂 .Therefore , I am sharing whatever information I gather , to garden enthusiasts in our city, and wait for them to reciprocate.
I came know(from one of the groups ,) about this gentleman, an army personnel, in Secunderabad EME Centre, who is into waste management. The following information is from the group’s visit.
Shri. Venugopalgaru and his team have rain water harvesting pits , well planned Nursery to utilize the waste materials and plants from their nursery. The landscapes over that entire area is beautiful.
They even constructed a beautiful waterfall which makes you feel as if you are in a deep forest (so naturally planned). It is a good place for the school children to have a visit for a day to understand how to make our environment a better place. Permission for this can be taken from them, if a letter is submitted behalf of school to the EME . Anyone can go and visit this place. It is easily accessible buses from Secunderabad (24), bus stop is : Eagle chowk. . For any further details, you can contact Shri.Venugopal at 9391160374 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              9391160374      end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

I had also browsed through one interesting blog form Pune. “From Urban culture to Agriculture”
http://wegoorganic.blogspot.com/

Happy Gardening!