Me and My Garden

People are curious about how I compost without a composting bin and a backyard. My trick lies in imagination – simply think vertical. My secret composting practice includes 3 easy steps. First of all, put all the organic waste from the kitchen into a plastic bag and tie it up. Then stick a few wooded or bamboo sticks into the planting pot. Lastly, just tie the plastic bags on the upper part of the stick. After 1 or 2 days, the plastic bag will start producing fermented “juice”, which drips slowly to the pot because of gravity. Needless to say, this juice, although too strong for my taste, is greatly appreciated by my plants. It nurtures and fertilises my plants in the most natural and efficient way. Moreover, because the juice drips slowly, it does not burn my plants with its high concentration of nutrients. Afterwards, all I need to do is sit back and relax, let the gravity does its job and enjoy the fruitful harvest when the time comes. 

 

Meanwhile, I collect meat and fish leftover and bury them in a pot with soil. After 2 months, it will turn into a great fertiliser. Then I will mix it with some other soil, which makes the perfect foundation for my flower, vegetable and herb planting. I also reuse milk bottles to collect grey water from the kitchen to water my plants. These little tricks are neither rocket sciences nor innovative invention, but simply some grandma’s recipes with a bit of thoughts and a bit of hearts.   

 

Lastly, I want to mention that I loved participating in all environment workshops, because they are great opportunities for the participants to learn new information and share their own experience with each others.  

 

I especially enjoyed the Natural Cleaning Workshops offered by Grace from the Ethnic Communities Council in May.  Before the workshops, I used to purchase cleaning products from the supermarket due to heavy influence of the commercial advertisement. Now, I proudly make my own natural cleaning products at home, which are effective, cheap and non-toxic. For example, the natural pest spray that I learned to make in the workshops is very effective, so it saves me money and unnecessary trips to the supermarket to buy any other pest control sprays from the shelf. 

 

I really look forward to the future environment workshops and can’t wait to share the information, tips and experience with my family and friends.  

 

By Mary Zhang, member of Hornsby Chinese Community Group