Composting - round 1

Well!

Composting is not as easy as 1-2-3.

So, in theory, we did everything according the guideline.

• They said to start with a bottom layer of newspaper. We did.
• They said to throw kitchen waste in. We did.
• They said to throw in a handful of remix powder now and then. We did.
• They said to stir it once a week. We did.
• They said to throw in the microbe powder once a week. We did.
• They said to wait for things to decompose. We did.

And yet, it didn't decompose. So we moved the topmost bin to the middle space and continued throwing our waste in the upper bin. It has been 3 months now and it still hasnt turned into compost *sigh*.

I finally decided to sift out the "compost" and take what I can get. It wasnt too bad, but very dry.

Sifted compost

Compost too dry

And therein lies the crux of the problem! 

We do not eat so many vegetables everyday to generate enough wet waste. Addtionally, Ahmedabad is very dry. I had placed the compost bin in a sheltered part of the terrace. But that did not prevent the winds from drying it out everyday. Hence, we were fighting a losing battle against moisture.

Now we have placed the compost bin just outside our terrace door near the society stairs. It is a dark place, unaffected by the wind. In a week itself, I can see that the scraps are retaining their moisture and decomposing. Fingers crossed that the next batch does not take 3 months to decompose!

Indoor stars

After conquering the outdoor world, we decided to buy some indoor plants.

We had bought a Croton back in February with our winter shopping. It was doing well indoors, with very large leaves that are in different colours. In addition, the pot was good looking. We bought two of these.

Croton in a red pot

This month when we went shopping, we though to buy the same plant with different coloured pot. These would go on the staircase landing. We bought green pots with Croton.

More Croton

We also wanted a large plant for the drawing room, something that has height and draws attention to it. The nursery showed us Palms, which does the job. However, it has a lot of width to it, which would keep increasing as it grew. Then he showed us Araucaria, which is commonly called the Christmas tree. It looked fantastic! We bought two in black plastic pots.

Araucaria