Diki Edible Garden: Composting My Kitchen Waste

Actually I have been burying my kitchen waste into bins with old garden soil that I saved after recycling them from old pots. Reusing the used soil but adding kitchen waste to provide the natural fertiliser, saves cost of buying fertilizer and soil and recycle kitchen waste. I noticed that these garden soil cannot be used direct for gardening as these garden soil seems to harm the roots of newly planted plants so I have to leave them out to dry or sun for at least a week or more before using them as garden soil.

I decided to start composting. Since I am using soilless potting soil for my edibles, I prefer to use compost to add to my edibles pot. I do not have any proper equipment right now, so I use a IKEA FNISS Waste bin, red, 10L and a red lid as a starting point since I have 3 such bins available. I did not make any holes at the bottom of the bin since I have not decided whether this will be my final setup.

Previously I have tried worm composting but the setup did not last long as I have too much worm trays and not enough kitchen waste. Another issue is the temperature outside my HDB flat sometimes gets too warm or windy. Not that easy to keep worm bins so I prefer a more simple composting method. Less harm to living beings, like worms.

For composting, the ideal green and brown ratio is about 1:2. However, this is not a hard rule so depending on your environment and what you have, the ratio can be tweeted a little depending on your circumstances.

Source: https://helpmecompost.com/compost/basics/brown-to-green-compost-ratio/

Composting includes a balanced "browns mix" and "greens mix." Here's what greens and browns mean:

Greens are materials that are rich in nitrogen or protein. They are also the items that tend to heat a compost pile up because they help the microorganisms in the pile grow and multiply quickly.
Browns are carbon or carbohydrate-rich materials. The main job of browns in a compost pile is to be food sources for all of the lovely soil-dwelling organisms that will work with the microbes to break down the contents of your compost pile. Also, brown materials help to add bulk and help allow air to filter through the pile.

Browns for the Compost Pile

Brown materials for composting include dry or woody plant material. In most cases, these materials are brown, or naturally turn brown. Brown items include the following:

Fall leaves
Pine needles
Twigs, chipped tree branches/bark
Straw or hay
Sawdust
Corn stalks
Paper (newspaper, writing/printing paper, paper plates, napkins, and coffee filters)
Dryer lint
Cotton fabric
Corrugated cardboard (without waxy/slick coatings)

Greens for the Compost Pile

Green materials for composting consist mostly of wet or recently growing materials. Green materials are usually green or come from plants that were green at some point. But, this is not always the case. Here are green items:

Grass clippings
Coffee grounds/tea bags
Vegetable and fruit scraps
Trimmings from perennial and annual plants
Annual weeds that haven't set seed
Eggshells
Animal manures (cow, horse, sheep, chicken, rabbit, but not dog or cat manure)
Seaweed