Composting

I have been gardening with commercially purchased compost for almost 10 years. Though it is relatively easy to buy compost from nurseries here in Singapore, I have read about how we can make compost out of our kitchen scraps and decided to give it a try. As I am living in a high rise apartment, my only option was to use a bucket as a compost bin. My first concern was the foul smell it might produce and cause unhappy neighbours. According to references, if done correctly, it should not produce that fearful odour. Hence, I went on with the project.


I took a plastic bucket and punched a couple of holes around the sides so that the materials could breath. Place aluminum foil to block out light so the micro organisms could do their work.

Following that, I tore up newspaper and waste paper as a carbon source and place them at the bottom of the bucket. Next, I when around the kitchen to hunt for kitchen scraps. Found some old potatoes, carrots and cucumbers that were in the fridge, cut them up and dump them into the bucket. As the days when by, I kept adding waste paper, tissue, newspaper and kitchen scraps.

After a week, no foul smell, just a pungent smell that is quite pleasant actually.

Added more materials in there and almost another week when by.

I was not prepared for the surprise when it came the time to put the next batch of scraps in the bucket. When I opened the lid, the surprise hit my nose first and shot an instant signal to my brains! As a result of adding more greens than carbon, and not having holes at the bottom of the bucket, the materials at the bottom had putrefied. Liquids were coming out of the holes near the bottom of the bucket too, that could only mean juices had been stagnant at the bottom for too long. That was where it struck me, drastic measures of carbon was needed to soak up all those juices to balance the carbon and nitrogen ratio.

Bought 2 packs of wood shavings and poured tons of it in the bucket, at the same time, working it to the bottom to soak up the juice. I then added about another inch of shavings on top of the putrefied material and close the lid.

After a few days, juices were still coming out of the holes, but it did not smell as bad as before. I must be doing something right, therefore, more shavings were added and mixed well into the compost. I went on to spray in home cultured lactose bacillus bacteria to help breakdown the material faster.

I think the microbes were happy after the improvements to their home, as the heap started to heat up, and when I turned the compost to aerate it, fumes starts to fill the empty spaces as I dug. After another month or so, it looks and smells like compost.