Home Made Compost is possible in crowded, urban tropical cities like Singapore.

This process of recycling kitchen green waste into compost for gardening is good for plants, ourselves, and the environment.

Look at how my edibles garden turned out with this “homemade” super soil for yourself!

 

From THIS –

An abandoned dying citrus plant.

 

Composting methods in Singapore
2015 March

 

Its soil was so hard that we could not bury our green waste (pomelo peels).

 

Benefits of Organic Compost
2015 March 20

 

TO THIS

This plant was fully recovered in 9 months and fruiting.

 

How to use and benefits of organic compost
2015 Dec 14

 

How to use and benefits of organic compost

 

It continued to thrive.

This was our update on July 17, 2016 (16 months of composting in this pot).

 

using compost
2016 July 17

 

Every six months, we still used this pot as an open composting bin.

It was amazing to see for ourselves how recycled raw greens for compost is good for gardens.

 

home made nutrients rich soil
2016 July 17

 

Uses of compost
Budding Fruits

 

We are happy to see this little tree continue to grow and thrive –

 

Benefits of recycled green waste compost
2017 January 20

 

No other fertilizer was added in this pot, beside composting of peels and adding earthworms from the garden.

Imagined this – whatever nutrients that this plant gained from the compost, allowed it to rejuvenate its drive to recover from a dying state.

Then I often wondered what we will gain when we consumed edibles grown in this kind of natural compost?

 

Will we be able to rejuvenate ourselves as well?

 

Meyer Lemons –

 

How to use and benefits of organic compost
Growing Meyer lemon in compost pot

 

Sweet Basil 

 

How to use and benefits of organic compost
September 16 2015 – Sweet Basil

 

Grown outdoor in natural compost, these plants are bigger than those grown indoors.

 

How to use and benefits of organic compost
Bigger Leaves

 

 

Rosemary and Curly leaf Parsley

 

Grow Flat leaf or Curly Parsley from seeds in Singapore
Western Parsley – Curly

 

Grow Rosemary from seeds or cutting in Singapore
Rosemary

 

Our MINT was grown without pesticide and in our own compost from recycling kitchen greens waste –

 

Benefits of home made organic compost
Kids love to harvest home grown mint for tea when they are studying

 

Ginger 

 

Grow Ginger in pots in Singapore
Banana Peel + Coffee

 

We readied the compost first before planting ginger.

A ready compost is dark in color and the raw waste is completely broken down.

They become part of the soil.

 

Grow Ginger in pots in Singapore
4th pot of ginger

 

Bell Peppers or Capsicums – 

 

Growing bell peppers in home made compost

 

Growing red bell peppers in home made organic compost
Red and Green bell peppers in the same pot

 

ANY Vegetables will taste great in natural compost!

 

Grow easy vegetables for beginners in Singapore
2020 April 20

 

Even strawberries! 🙂

 

Growing strawberries in outdoors Singapore garden
We weed our strawberries outdoor to learn more about growing them in the tropics.

 

Two varieties of strawberry plants were weeded here from October 2015, to see how they fared in our special acidic compost in normal SG temperature.

So far, sick plants have recovered in them and survived our terrible haze and thunderstorms, to flower and bore fruits by December 2015.

 

Growing strawberries in Singapore
2017 – One of my plants thriving in natural SG environment

 

Why not wolfberries too?

 

Growing wolfberry or gojiberries in Singapore
2017 February 28

 

HUCKLEBERRIES

 

Grow Chichiquelite huckleberries from seeds in Singapore
2020 January

 

 

In our household, recycling raw greens for compost bins is second nature!

 

How to make organic compost
We are striving toward zero-waste in our household

 

NOTES & OBSERVATIONS

WHAT GOES INTO COMPOST BINS

Fruit Peels (banana, watermelon, etc)

Fruit or Vegetable Pulp (from a juicer, raw)

Soya bean pulp (Okara, 豆渣 / 豆腐渣)

Used tea leaves or coffee grinds

 

MYTH ABOUT SNAILS AND EGGSHELLS

Eggshells – membrane inside eggshells can attract snails.

Contrary to beliefs, snails love to eat eggshells.

Having them on surface soil will attract snails to the plants and will not deter them from feasting.

This needs to be buried deep in outdoor gardens.

 

THE DON’T 

Spoiling raw vegetables or fruits – remove seeds if possible as they may germinate in the compost bin

No fish, meat or bloody innards as the scent of rot is foul and likely attract rodents

 

 

How to make organic compost

 

5 Easy Steps to prepare organic compost OUTDOORS

 

Cover the holes with a net or any material (pebbles, sand) that allow the liquid to drain while stopping soil/compost erosion

Dried leaves or any organic dried matter from the garden

Any soil – new, used, spent

Add kitchen green waste

Cover with soil and dried leaves, raise the compost container for aeration is a good idea.

 

How to prepare compost bins for outdoor garden
Cover pot’s drainage holes with net to allow water to drain out but not erode the soil and compost.

 

Dried leaves, grass, used pets’ bedding (such as straw, hay), tree barks, shredded paper, cardboard can be used as brown for layering in compost bins.

 

How to prepare compost bins for outdoor garden
Step 2 – Dried leaves from trees.

 

Any soil (old, new, spent) can be used in the compost bin except soil that had been infected by pests such as roots mealy.

We don’t re-use such soil because there may have been unhatched eggs in them.

 

How to prepare compost bins for outdoor garden
Step 3 – Add soil

 

How to prepare compost bins for outdoor garden
Step 4 – Add raw greens etc. Cover with soil and top off with dried leaves so fewer fruit flies hovering around the pot!

 

How to prepare compost bins for outdoor garden
Layers after layers are repeated until my pot is almost full.

 

What to do when it rained, and the compost become wet?

After a heavy rain, its good to “turn/stir” the pile and add dry soil.

I usually top off with dried leaves to ward off fruit flies.

The soil smells like orange, nothing foul.

In our tropical heat when there is a dry spell, our compost would be ready in 2 – 4 weeks.

 

 

How to prepare compost bins for outdoor garden and what to do when compost is wet
Almost ready

 

A “ready” state is when the green waste is indistinguishable from each other.

 

Composting in Singapore
The ready product is a soft, citrus smelling dark soil!

 

Benefits of composting
Color of nutrients rich compost is BLACK!

 

Home made compost
Lots of worms as raw greens break down! Not for the squeamish 🙂

 

When the compost is ready, the color of the compost is very dark and none of the peels and kitchen raw greens are distinguishable.

This is my super soil which I used as topsoil in my pots.

2) For apartments’ corridors composting,  please follow this group’s “Composting in Singapore” instructions.

There is no smell and not much presence of pests, it is neighbors’ friendly but takes longer to breakdown.

 

Compost bins suitable for apartment’s corridors

 

How to prepare compost bins for indoor area without pests or smells
Step 1 – Plastic Bin with cover, drilled holes at the bottom for drainage

 

How to prepare compost bins for indoor area without pests or smells
Step 2 – Cover holes with net. Second layer is shredded newspapers, followed by dried leaves and soil.

 

How to prepare compost bins for indoor area without pests or smells
Step 3 – add greens and my idea of a toilet roll for aeration! 🙂 Top off with soil, newspapers and cover bins!

 

How to prepare compost bins for indoor area without pests and smells
In the process of breaking down organic matter for compost, heat and moisture are created in the compost bins. Newspapers absorb liquid and smells.

 

Composting in Singapore
Thumbs UP – Compost bins like these are neighbors friendly – no smells, no pests!

 

For an easy nonfussy indoor method, Lim San had uploaded a new video in February 2017 –

 

 

 

Just for knowledge, the following video showed what happened in my compost bin when too many raw greens are added over brown ratio.

Thus do keep Lim San‘s advice in mind (Brown : Green , 30:1 ratio) when starting a new compost bin!

 

 

 

Compost bins in Singapore
Bins can be used outdoors but mind the mosquitoes breeding when it rained on the bin’s covers! Best to lay a cloth than tile like this.

 

SUN or BAKED YOUR Green WASTE for indoor gardens

During the COVID-19 stay-home period from April 4 to May 4, 2020, we continue to turn kitchen waste to plant foods by drying green waste in the oven.

At 150 to 170 Degree celsius for 30 minutes, most of our coffee grinds, peels and etc were dry and ready for the gardens.

 

How to turn green waste into plant food in Singapore
2020 April 20

 

We love to cook with edibles from our organic garden!

It is possible to grow edibles without using commercial fertilizers.

 

Sweeter edibles grown in home made organic compost
Young chefs in training and homemade Quiche with herbs from our garden 🙂

 

These children (Summer, Shona, and Kosuke) helped to grow food to share with our neighbors in 2015.

 

Children growing food to share in Singapore
2015 October 5

 

A beautiful edibles garden to share from re-using throw-away trash and recycling food waste for fertilizers.

 

Growing vegetables with children in our organic garden
SG Strawberries kids helped built this edibles garden (2015 ) 🙂

 

The soil quality in this garden improved the longer we use our own compost.

Not only do the plants in our pots grew well, but the whole garden also enjoyed better yield over the years.

 

Benefits of composting
2017 November 5

 

How to turn kitchen green waste into better fertilizer for the garden
2020 April 24

 

 

A small pleasurable plot of edibles, grown in nutrients dense compost by recycling waste and shared freely with neighbors now.

It was an empty corner where people abandoned plants and discarded pots, changed for the better.

Gardening has become my voice for sharing ideas to promote recycling in our communities and how every household can play a part to protect our environment.

This is also a good way to teach the younger generation how to grow food from “own-made” supercharged soil!

 

SG Strawberries kids
2018 March 15 – Trio who helped me with this garden

 

Benefits of natural compost fertiliser
2018 August – Outdoor salads “Bowls” in natural compost

 

In addition, we took science out of the textbooks and learned how to protect our environment while growing delicious food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 thoughts on “Home Made Super Soil”

  1. Hi Vic thanks for sharing. I have a citrus plant that celebrated 10 CNYs with me. Like you, I compost my waste and put some on the citrus plant soil. Then last year it had a bout of bad attack from white flies. My sis in law said its probably due to the compost and I changed to a new pot. It fared better and I managed to get rid of the white flies. This year it got attacked my scaly bugs and the poor tree looks really pathetic. The leaves have almost all dropped. It has stabilized now after I wipe.off with alcohol swipes. How do you keep your compose bacteria and pest free?

    1. At the beginning, for flying pests, I used those yellow sticky paper & tied them on mid- point branches. If you have a Byblis plant ( carnivorous plant ), you could placed it near compost pots too. I still have the occasional grasshopper or caterpillar which will eat most of the leaves and then it recovers on its own.

  2. Hi,
    I am keen to learn more about composting. Read that bacteria is required to start but it seems like it is not required from this article and can I use coffee from my Nespresso capsule as brown waste?

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