Sow What ?

 What can one do with so much Compost?   That remains one of the most frequently asked questions (!) when we talk about home composting solutions. In an ideal world, you are endowed with space and time for gardening, green thumb, and making Compost at home to grow what one eats and eat what one grows. Assume there is neither garden space nor time for it. "Green thumb" is absent too. But you generate wet waste nonetheless and are pushed into composting your wet waste out of a government mandate, peer pressure, pressure from your kids who have been educated by environmentalists /activists at school or through school. In such cases, Composting is not an option but a social responsibility. That's when "Aiyoh, What will I do with so much compost ?" echoes loudly. Let me assure you, it is an excellent problem to have. Here is how. 1. Get to know your gardener buddies  Ask around. Whatsapp groups. There will be so many gardeners you didn't know existed in you...

People in their admiration for a colorful garden, vegetable patch, or bountiful harvest exclaim that the gardener is endowed with a Green Thumb.  An avid gardener will tell you the thumb and nails are anything but green with stains of the muddy earth and associated fragrances. Gardening or tending to a garden is a skill acquired like any other skill that involves education, training, and practice with many failures and successes with learning being a continuum- intuitive at that. It is not a talent one is born with. While a " G reen Thumb " compliment is well-meaning and most encouraging, I am overcome by a primordial longing to narrate the travails with weeds alongside non-sprouting seeds, Aphids making merry with the  Mealybugs, Ants, Rodents, and Monkeys in a jamboree, Curling leaves, falling-flowers, root rot, and what not! Green Thumb as such is no superpower or natural endowment and at best can be an inherent aptitude. Green Thumb is not what you are born with as is be...

Leaf composting 3 minute read Often times we find garden wastes being burnt or dumped into garbage bins along with other wastes destined to reach the landfill.   It is a good practice to compost the fallen leaves   along with other garden discards with the help of organic, microbial accelerators.   This will speed up the biodegradation process in urban  setups  that have challenges of space, manpower,  and  other resources.   The leaves of most trees contain twice as many minerals and micronutrients as manure. When used as mulch, or when composted they are worth a pound for a pound!   Here is why:   ·         Deep-rooted   trees absorb minerals from  the soil, a good portion of which goes to the leaves ·        They supply fibrous organic matter that nourishes the soil ·        Humus ...

It is the lone Potato somedays. A small bunch of Palak on other days. Two hundred grams of  Beans, Three Brinjals, Quarter kilogram of  Broad Beans or a Bonanza of a kilogram of  Tomato on many days. Quite a few days we harvest seeds. And every 45 days we harvest black gold or compost from our kitchen waste. Compost harvest 4 pots of black gold The happiness with each harvest and the contentment with the yield is the same  be it vegetables,seeds or compost. It is never about the quantity of harvest or yield. It is the promise of each seed that showed up. Here are a few harvest pictures, that never fail to inspire me on no-harvest days to keep calm and garden on. Palak seeds Seed Harvest For my pooja...