Ew… disgusting!

That was my first reaction when I started doing it, and I am sure it is the same case for many people. As for my wife, she encouraged me to do it but she has never touched it…

Why did I even start making compost? Well, it was a half, out of necessity, and the other half, out of curiosity. When corona crisis started in Mexico, people started buying supplies in large lots, and there was a rumor saying that supply of everything will be cut off for a few months. We did not believe in that rumor but we thought maybe we should start growing our food in the yard, just in case…

When we thought of growing our own food, there were two problems. One, we could never take care of plants well, and all the flower pots that we bought in the past died in our house. Two, the access to soil was limited in the house, where we were living.

Because we had never had success with plants, we did not want to buy pretty pots and bags of soil, although I was very much tempted to do so. I have also explored the hydroponic option but it looked very complex. Also, we were renting the place so, I thought a hydroponic system can become a chunk of garbage that I would regret buying when we move in the future.

That led me to propose the option to make our own soil… Just after I said it, I regretted, thinking that it would stink the whole house and there would be complaints from our neighbor. I thought my wife would yell at me for proposing such thing. On the contrary to my concern, my wife was supportive of the idea.

I did not know where to start but I gathered kitchen scraps and put them in an empty tall yoghurt container. My gut feeling told me not to put meat so I gather vegetable and fruit scraps. On a later day, when I did some research about compost making, I found that my gut feeling was right. I should not put meat, fish, or bones in compost as they can draw pests. Some egg shells are good. Egg shells can add calcium to the soil. (Not all the cases, though… it depends on what kind of plants you are growing. Different plants prefer different kind of soil…)

A few days after I started collecting kitchen scraps, the scraps started smelling bad. Since bacteria is doing their magic, I was not sure if I should completely seal it with a lid but, I could not stand it so I put the lid on.

That night, my wife told her mother what we are doing. Surprisingly, her mother is an expert in plants, and she has been making compost on her own, as well. She told us what we need to do is very simple. First, put some soil at the bottom of a container. On top of the soil bed, place kitchen scrap, then place soil on top of compost. Every time we put kitchen scrap, put soil on top. That way, smell is sealed yet the compost can breath.

We had some soil in the pot, which we killed flowers in the past so I took some soil from it, and redid the compost bin. It was, indeed, stinky and disgusting… but after I did what my mother in law told us, things got a lot better!

People, remember this procedure if you are into compost!

Just so you know, I did an experiment later, in which I put kitchen scraps in a completely sealed air-tight container (orange juice plastic bottle). Kitchen scraps made liquid, gas, and odor but they never turned into soil.

***

About a week from collecting kitchen scraps, the it started growing green mold. By this time, the compost started attracting flies. That is when I realized I should not keep making compost indoor. I took my compost container to the side , where we had never used before corona quarantine started. I was afraid that our neighbor wouldsmell the compost and complain but the covert soil prevented the odor well.

Another week has passed. I was curious if the compost has turned to soil so I poked and turned the soil around in the container.

Wow!!! The smell!!! Worse than last week!

I have immediately covered the container with more soil, and looked at the neighbor’s window. A little relief. It was closed.

As for the compost, it was not ready yet. The scraps had already turned blackish, mostly, but I still saw chunks of orange peels.

In the third week, the compost has started smelling like soil, like the smell of earth after the rain. I still saw some chunks of scraps and the smell of rotten food was still there but it was a lot less.

The compost turned completely black and no more rotten-food smell in the fifth week. It did not look like kitchen scrap but dark soil. It is amazing how kitchen scraps turns into soil.

I have decided to use that batch of compost to start planting. The first attempt was tomato. My wife has removed some seeds from tomato when she was cooking the other day. The tomato grew very well, and we have harvested several fruits of tomato from the scrap.

Since then, we have been making soil on our own, and planting different vegetables. Still, many plants did not grow but we have had some successful ones, especially tomatoes.

By the way, since we did not have containers to plant things to start with, we have recycled plastic boxes that lettuce, tomatoes or other vegetables come in. The idea sounds cheap but we have made quite a vegetable garden in our yard.