The fig, the blue pot, and the mushroom-head

I have no idea how time just flew past and it's been way more than a year since I last blogged!! >____<

Thank goodness I am not as remiss with my care of the greens.

I was particularly happy to get a little more time today to work on cleaning up and repotting some plants. Let me indulge a little and describe one of my projects for the day, as well as introduce a couple of good purchases I made!

Like many others here in Singapore, Ikea's a pretty good place to kill more time than is necessary. Some days, the visits are more fruitful than others. 

Ikea's Mistletoe Fig from Dec'13

I picked up this mistletoe fig last December when I was desperately looking for a ficus plant but couldn't afford the big ones sold in nurseries. Needless to say, I was pretty happy with this little purchase. And to be honest, pleasantly surprised at how long it's lasted. 

One of the cons of plant shopping in Ikea - there is usually little to no guide as to how we ought to care for our purchase. The fig was simply labelled as a "Christmas plant" when I got it. That meant that for the longest time, I was clueless as to how to care for this plant.

Unfortunately, it took me MONTHS before I finally decided to check exactly what plant it is. Despite its low resolution, it's visible from this picture that the top leaves are spotted, a sure sign of poor health. It's entirely my fault for leaving it out in full direct sun. Apparently, this plant does better in bright but indirect light. I am glad to report, this plant has since been shifted to a more appropriate location.

Anyway, I digress.

As it's fast outgrowing its previous home, I decided to repot it today in a new square pot - a purchase from the Katong Flower Shop. 

This particular nursery offers some good and affordable pots, which are usually hidden towards the back. I paid only $28 for this solid 40x40cm pot and it's gorgeous to boot!!

I was initially debating whether to get one of those self-watering pots from Ikea and totally glad that I took my husband's suggestion to check out the nursery instead. I really love its bright blue pattern and, together with the fig it cradles, adds a nice splash of color to my living room. 

This leads me to another purchase I'm pretty happy with. Those of us who live near or have access to a Daiso (a popular Japanese $2 chain store), may want to go check out the following item - Mushroom-head, a ceramic waterer. 

This little ceramic mushroom helps keep the soil moist - it holds water in its hollow body and releases water from the unglazed tip when the soil is dry. This is particularly handy for plants that need their soil to be moist. It's also handy for when we're away on short trips and have no one else to help water our plants. Sadly, a situation that's resulted in the demise of many of my precious greens... 

Thanks to this purchase, I have one less thing to stress when I need to go away. I've added mushroom-heads in a number of my potted plants in preparation for my short trip away from home. This way, I don't need to worry about them drying while I am away! 

Do keep a lookout for this handy little item next time you're at a Daiso! They also come in different shapes, like frogs and turtles.

*Do note that this may not be good for plants that need the soil to dry in between watering sessions (e.g., cacti). 

... and a love for life motivates us all.

I really need to apologize for neglecting this blog. To make up for months of silence on this blog, I've been actively seeking a new direction for the space. In addition to exploring various gardening issues, I've lined up themed interviews with experienced gardeners who will be sharing their experience on how gardening in a small space is like. My "gurus" for this quarter are  Ethan and Irene, 2nd runner-ups for the "Cool Ideas for better HDB living - Growing Vegetables at Home" competition. If you haven't heard of their nifty idea yet, because like me, you didn't have a chance to attend the Cool ideas for better HDB living exhibit, do check it out here. Essentially, their idea addressed a major concern for all of us living in small apartments - that of limited space.

Last Friday, when I was fortunate enough to meet up with them, we had a lengthy talk about various issues of gardening in Singapore. Having lived in Japan before and enjoyed gardening with land and four seasons, I was curious about what they felt were the major differences between gardening with land and within containers. Almost unanimously they voiced out a major difference was the lack of space. We're talking about open land, almost unlimited space for the plants to expand versus confined space within the containers and really, limited storage space for the plant pots. Also, with the seasons in Japan, they experienced a different kind of relationship with the plants -- there, sowing and harvests happened at fixed times of the year whereas in a tropical country like Singapore, we can pretty much sow and harvest anytime. 

"In Japan, we had help from the natural environment whereas here [in Singapore], there is no environment for the plants; We have to duplicate the conditions for them."

Like all amateur gardeners, they started out focusing on ornamental plants back in the 80's, after moving back to Singapore. Like Irene shared, they pretty much grew stuff "the usual way" - plant and soil in pot. If plant dies, just buy another pot. When they were busy, the plants were the first to be sacrificed. So you can expect that over the years, they've had experience with a wide variety of plants and found that aloe vera and bamboo plants are the hardiest. Now, they're moving towards sustainability and so are focusing on edibles like herbs and other greens for their salads. 

I could sense their deep love for the plants and Irene passionately agreed with me when I commented on how hard it is kill or throw plants that we've grown from seeds. This is one of the main motivations for Ethan's small bottle solution; there were just too many plants and much too little space to hold all the plants. For an elderly couple in their 60's, they were certainly active and still dynamic. But Ethan revealed that another source of motivation for this idea came from the fact that he could no longer help Irene move big and heavy pots of plants. There was a real need to think of how they could hold on to the plants in containers that were mobile and still had conducive conditions for the plants.

By the end of the interview, I walked off with a petite bottle in which held a healthy, big-leafed lemon balm. I can't help but agree with them that big solutions can indeed come in small bottles. And maybe all we need is a love of life and all creation to motivate us towards our own big solutions. 

A big-leaved lemon balm held in a petite container

Crazy hot weather

Just a quick reminder for all gardeners out there - our weather's just been insanely hot!!! Before I knew it, I've lost quite a few branches (not the whole plant, thankfully) to the extreme heat. Remember to water!!!

Will be updating all of you on the progress of my tomato plants as well as more tips on how to care for them. Hope you're having a nice cool day in the shade of your plants~~

The Garden is now at Etsy!

I finally managed to get the seedlings organized and they are now available for sale on Etsy! Some of the smaller seedlings are placed in pairs within the pot and the slightly more mature ones are in pots by themselves. I've started two listings for the smaller seedlings.

Hopefully, once I get this started, the other projects such as plant starter kits, wall-deco plants, and terrariums will come easier. Do watch this space for updates~~ Happy gardening on this sunny day.

One of the seedling pots available on Etsy

What counts as organic?

We're all increasingly aware of the endless number of chemicals that can go into our bodies now and with so many food scares, it's no wonder that more people are scrambling to get organic food. But, what exactly counts as organic? Are they just food that has no toxic chemicals? Or is it food specially grown and nurtured in a certain way?

Wikipedia defines organic food as "foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.^"

But it really isn't that simple. For those of us who are trying to build a self-sufficient garden, what are some of the things we need to take note?

So in my search for the definition to what counts as organic produce, I tried to focus on details that matter to gardening organic food at home. I came across a couple of really interesting articles. One of them is an article by Andy Hamilton on Organic Container Gardening. Hamilton gives us some advice on the things we can use when trying to grow food in limited space. Using hanging baskets and going vertical helps. He also suggests growing plants that will last and can be harvested over a long time so we don't waste space. Jackie French's Self-sufficiency on a balcony gives us detailed steps on how to build our little self-sufficient garden right on the balcony. Some steps include choosing the right pots, planting the right plants that will eventually yield us enough produce for our salads and daily green intake.

Perhaps I should consider whether to keep this pandan plant since I hardly ever use it for cooking...?

None of the posts went very much into talking about care of the plants - what should we use to keep those pests away? What do we do when our plants grow ill? What kind of fertilizers should we use? In fact, what soil do we plant our food in? And it all relates back to the idea of what defines organic food.

In some of my previous posts, I introduced homemade pesticides and even home composting. For us to move closer to having an organic home-grown food on a scale way way small, I think it's realistic for us to consider making everything, right down to homemade soil/fertilizer. Of course to start, we could simply pay more attention to the products we buy for our garden - is this organic soil? Can we get any natural pesticide? What kinds of fertilizers are chemical-free?

I hope this post has helped us resolve a little more to build our self-sustaining garden, even if we have very limited space. Even if we only care a little for our health and what goes into our bodies, let the harvest be our motivation; the taste of food from our own garden will definitely be worth the effort!

The plants give me something to talk about

I've really had loads to talk about these past few days! Just a couple hours of work invested in my single day off and I've had tons of "rewards" since.

Over the past weekend, I had the honour to be the "cake-creator" for my friend's pet dog. One of her requests was for me to include butternut squash in the cake. I had saved the seeds from the Japanese pumpkin we ate the previous week and of course I was really happy to have more seeds. This past Monday, I just dumped the whole lot of seeds into my now designated germinating-pot, expecting very little to sprout and definitely a whole long while before any action takes place.

The shameful way I treat the pumpkin & squash seeds - dumped in a pot

Imagine my delight when today, I walked out to the balcony and found this:

Pumpkin seedlings!!

This has got to be record breaking. In less than two days, these seedlings sprouted. I guess the heat is worth enduring if all my plants are so happy!

On another note, the tomato seedlings are growing really well. Some are bigger than others but you can see that the stems are buffing up and they look really healthy. 

Rapidly growing tomato seedlings

The downside about having a little garden on the balcony is, even if the plants are happy now, when they start growing out, I will have no space for them So, do watch this space because I will be posting information on how to get some seedlings from me. You do get to choose the type of seedlings and I will basically be charging for soil & container. Alternatively, you can choose to follow me on my Facebook space, HDB Greens for more information on how to grab these seedlings.

Let's move a step closer towards self-sufficient living in the comfort of our HDB flats!

Growing cherry tomatoes

Now that my tomato seedlings are getting bigger, I need to start thinking about the care and maintenance of these plants.

If you were to google-search for tips on planting cherry tomatoes in small spaces or containers, you will find generally positive posts. My short experience so far proves that we can start from seed and these plants really do love a lot of sunlight. So if you have a small space that gets a lot of sunlight, perhaps you can consider planting cherry tomatoes.

Here are some other tips on care of your cherry tomatoes after your seeds successfully sprout:

1. If you manage to get a lot of seedlings and are thinking of re-potting/spacing them out, do make sure to fluff your soil. They like fertile and loose soil.

2. Prepare some sort of support for these plants. Even if your plant is the bush type and can stand up by themselves, we probably want to provide extra support for the plants when they start bearing fruit. This is especially important for us since we live in high-rise buildings. We don't want the little fruits to start falling on the heads of passers-by!

3. These plants need to be watered once every two days. But do make sure you watch your pot; you might want to water them more frequently if the soil looks and feels very dry. Backyard gardening suggests giving the plants a little fertilizer with each watering. This is probably a good idea since tomatoes usually enjoy their fertilizers.

4. You might choose to prune them. Life on the Balcony's quick tip on planting tomatoes suggest that we remove suckers. And the comments following the tip suggest that although tomatoes will still grow on suckers, it is probably better for your plant as a whole if they are removed.

And these are all the tips! For now anyway. Hopefully you too will be motivated to start a pot of cherry tomatoes (if the tips above don't sound tooooo scary...). I will be getting myself some stakes for my seedlings today! I am expecting a really good harvest since our weather's going to get hotter~~ Happy gardening as usual!

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References for this post came from:
1. Backyard gardening
2. Life on the Balcony
3. e-how Home
4. Real Simple

New growth

Here's an update on some of the edibles growing in my balcony:

One of the shallots I harvested but left in to grow out

The other small pot of green onions once harvested

You can still see the cut where I made the first harvest

Yet more happy tomato seedlings!

Trimmed rose plant & anticipating new buds!

Re-potted watermelon seedings

Did I follow up with...

...the outcome of my compost project?

The compost got along very nicely and I am guilty of using it up before any photos were taken! It is sitting nicely in my pot and helping my red shallots sprout delicious and spicy green onions.

Here's how you can grow your own green onions too:

1. Get some shallots if you don't have any.
2. Pick out those that are already budding or have a little green tips.
3. Plant them in a pot of soil. I usually have them in a small pot because I only plant a couple.
4. Place them in a sunny location (which shouldn't be too difficult in Singapore nowadays) and wait for them to grow out. I'm assuming we all remember to water the shallots on a daily basis so I've skipped a step.

My husband and I harvested our first batch of green onions by digging up the entire bulb. But then I read online somewhere (I'm sorry I don't remember where!) that if you cut it at the point slightly above the bulb, along the light green/white part of your green onions, you will get a fresh set of growth. Do note however, that this regrowth only works once. Once you get your second set, it's time to remove the bulb and plant in a new one.

Nowadays, I try to keep some small red shallots around at home. They are great for stir-frying and adding sweetness to food. More importantly, I keep them around to grow those lovely green onions. We just love them and my husband's adamant about boycotting store-bought green onions now. You might want to try experimenting with other kinds of onions like big red onions or yellow onions using the same steps.

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You may have found this post dry because of the glaring lack of photos. So I will try to be less enthusiastic about harvesting my green onions next time and remember to take some photos of them to share in another post. But till then, you'll have to rely on my words and try growing some green onions yourselves. I guarantee you'll be amazed at how easy it is. Enjoy!

Saving the Bamboo Plant

Recently, I mentioned that my bamboo plant was drying out and I suspected that it was due to the move plus the erratic weather here in Singapore. I shifted its position so it now sits in sheltered sunlight for the bulk of the day and gets direct morning sunlight. I also had to drastically trim off all the leaves that looked yellow or dried out. After two weeks, the new leaves are out and looking much better! Although the plant on the whole still looks pretty sad and bare...

Newly grown out leaves on the pretty much bare branches

A little tip on saving our bamboos. They do need a fair amount of water and if your bamboo plant is looking unhappy, consider shifting its location. If you are facing the same problem as I did (yellowing, dry leaves), you might also want to consider "saving" it by trimming off most of its unhealthy leaves along with the stems. Do make sure to check the condition of your bamboo stem before cutting it bare - if the stem is green, it is likely to be healthy and will grow back even if you trim off most of its leaves. However, if the stem is looking dry and has largely turned brown, you might want to hold off on trimming and consult your nearest nursery for advice; they might be able to figure out what's going on with your plant.

And that's all the sharing for today. Happy gardening on this cheery day!

A wall of bleeding hearts

Weeks ago, I reorganised the balcony and said that I was building a wall of bleeding hearts to keep out some of the traffic and get some privacy from (imaginary) prying neighbours. I am happy to share its growth thus far:

This plant definitely enjoys full-on sunlight. You can just see it straining to get more. I'm just really glad it's growing out and can't wait to see the wall complete!

Sprouts

I bought "Known-You" seeds from Eco-city for tomatoes and red coleus plant months ago but was stuck with a pile of work. The other day, when I finally managed to get a break from work (and from being ill), I thought about them. The main worry I had was, would they still germinate and sprout? After all, it's been months and I have to admit, I didn't quite take care of where to store these seeds. Nonetheless, I decided to try my luck with the tomatoes, since I just managed to get some nice planter pots from Daiso. Plus, I felt confident that my shelf would be an ideal place for the tomato plants.

It's only been 5 days since I planted those seeds and they have sprouted!! In addition, I now have seedlings from the lime and yellow watermelon we had at home recently. My husband scoffed at me when I dumped the lemon seed into the pot last night. Yes, I know lemons grow on trees. But hey, I can have it as a bonsai. I hope. Besides, I am of the opinion that it pays off to try dumping seeds into your existing pots because you never know what kind of surprise you might get.

Front right pot of baby lime plant. Cased in greenhouse from Ikea

Growing mess of yellow-watermelon seedlings

Tomato seedlings basking in the sun

So here's hoping all of you have fun trying out those seeds you've always thought of planting and may your little seedlings grow!

Raindrops on the background

I just couldn't resist switching the template of this blog to reflect the kind of weather I would like for this part of the world!

Ok, maybe I wouldn't want it to be rainy everyday. But I do wish that when it rains, it would rain moderately and when it's sunny, it wouldn't be too scorching. Primary reason being, my bamboo is facing a crisis! I guess it really enjoyed the previous location and now that I've shifted it, it's getting a little bit more of the afternoon sun. The leaves have been looking so sad, I decided to crop most of the branches off. As a result, it is looking rather bare... I am not going to post a picture of it looking sad and bare but I would like to report that the vines have been growing slowly, but definitely in the right direction as planned.

Another thing I've been trying to get my hands on are good lavender seeds. Amazon has some wonderful sources but unfortunately, they only ship within the country! I wish I knew a source here we could rely on to get wonderful perennials and plants like lavender, shiso.... The search will continue and when I do track it down, I will be sure to share!

Cheers and hope everyone's been enjoying their holidays & weekends with their plants~~

Re-Organising the Balcony

I mentioned in my last post that I finally received Fern Richardson's Small-Space Container Gardens. In the book, she described how we can first design our container gardens by laying out a plan for where each plant goes. I followed her advice and tried applying some form of order for my rectangular-shaped balcony. The results were pretty amazing.

Previously, I had two sets of shelves on both and left and right ends of my balcony and a solo shelf in the middle facing the sliding doors. I then filled the empty space with a big bamboo plant to the left of that shelf in the middle and a big cactus and an aloe vera to the right of the same shelf. For some reason, I was obsessed with having a patio table out on the balcony and it had to be set right in the middle. The end result was a decent looking balcony with bits of plants all over. I believe I've shared some pictures of what the old layout was like in previous posts so I shall not repeat them here.

I re-arranged my shelves and now have three shelves in the middle of the balcony facing the sliding doors, and my bamboo over to the left end of the balcony. It looks like this:

Big Bamboo plant now occupies left end of balcony & neighbours my Indian Rubber plant

 After the move, I realised that not only do I now have access to drainage, I have more space to move about and enough to keep my ladder and other bulky items in the corner, out of sight. Also, by having three shelves in the middle of the balcony, I've immediately gained some privacy.

The row of 3 shelves that now occupy center place

This time, I was determined to use plants as a shield from the traffic and from the prying eyes (I assume they are prying) of our next-block neighbours. I wanted to build a wall of plants and so got myself a pot of white bleeding hearts vine and ivy to go in a long planter. The planter goes smack in the middle of the three shelves and is placed a little higher up where the plants can get most sun.

What the "wall" looks like - can't wait for the vines to grow!

I also got several small pots of fern (they were on sale at the nursery near me) as well as flowers that need partial shade to go on the lower racks of the shelves. My existing plants and herbs now occupy all the other spots and have gained centerpiece status.

My husband watched me do the move on Sunday and asked me, "Why didn't we think of this sooner?" Yeah, I am also amazed at how little tips from another person or a book can help transform the space so much. I still have my patio table; it's no longer placed in the middle but to the left of the balcony, in a little corner where I can sit surrounded by plants and sunshine, but still have a little privacy if I choose. I now have a space which looks so much neater and so much bigger. It made me realise that I was cluttering up my balcony before!

Perhaps you are not quite satisfied with how your garden looks right now. Maybe you can consider a little "reformation" too. Cheers and hope you have a good gardening day~

The 2nd quarter of 2012 already??

I cannot believe how quickly time just flew by.  Since the last post on New Year's, I've been remiss online. However, the gardening hasn't paused.

I've been waiting for Fern Richardson's book on Small Space Container Gardens and finally got a copy of it last week. So over the past weekend, I followed some of her tips and redesigned my balcony. The effects were so wonderful, even my husband commented: "Why didn't we think of this sooner?" I haven't quite filled it out with the plants I have in mind yet but I do believe it's been a good start!

Will be sharing pictures of the new layout soon. Hope you'll return to this space for my updates and meanwhile, happy planting!

Re-organising, re-uses

Evidence of destruction. 

Since my return to a near fully-wrecked garden, I've been thinking of ways to reorganize my plants and also to 'pet-proof' them. Part of my thoughts on these were on husband-proofing them and I believe I might have found a partial solution.

I have to admit a friend of mine gave me the idea - creating terrariums, which are basically enclosed mini-gardens. They are particularly helpful for the busy and forgetful (not to mention, my husband) - because they are mostly enclosed, moisture is kept within the terrarium so we don't have to water it very often.

My attempt at creating a terrarium.

There are obviously a wide selection of plants to choose from when building our terrarium and I will share more on this in my next post. Today I just want to share photos of my latest potting attempts. I've placed them all around the house and they are heavy enough to stop the kitten from turning them over.

Having a mix of different plants in shallow dish.

I realized the key in this is having small stones in your container to weigh it down. In my top picture, you may have noticed that one of my earlier attempts at planting in a shallow glass dish had been overturned by the kitten. I've noticed that he hasn't succeeded with the stone-weighted one. Fingers crossed but I hope he continues to leave them alone.  

Putting the vase to use as plant pot.

I add charcoal in the mix because I find that they not only act as a nice filter for excess water, they help with water retention. I also like using charcoal because an NEA officer once told me that water that's been filtered by charcoal is less favored by breeding mosquitoes. So far, it's worked.

I think I particularly like the mini terrarium I've built using my vase for cut-flowers. I don't usually get cut flowers now that I have my own garden so the vase had been sitting on my shelf for a while. I think having the plants in it make it look great and these are just some ideas we can consider as we start decorating our homes for year-end festivities and the new year.

The great thing about having our home-built terrariums as decoration is the fact that it is totally green! It's living and will stay with you for a long time. Hope you will check in again for my next post on how to build our own terrariums and the kinds of plants that will fit this kind of environment.

Ideas from Taipei

In my last entry, I said that I would share a couple ideas I got from my short trip to Taipei. I was surprised to see how "green" that city was. Most of the corners I turned, I could see houses and shops with potted plants. Many of the apartments also had plant-decorated balconies, although the plants were primarily placed on shelves and in the usual plant pots we see here. 

A metal cat sits at the doorway to a teahouse. Love the plants that surround it. 

There were some places were the usage of green really popped and caught my attention. I didn't manage to catch all of these examples but here are some... 

Pruned bamboos.

On our trip up to one of the mountains and getting thoroughly lost while trying to find a lake, I spotted this building with its stunning bamboo plants. Made me wonder how they pruned the bamboo such that it has this shape. 

Another day trip to one of the popular touristy locations brought me to a public washroom, where I was pleasantly surprised. They have obviously tried to maintain a wall of greens within the washroom. 

Although you'll have noticed that most of the plants are missing and it doesn't appear that the plants are getting much sunlight, the remaining plants look quite healthy and happy.  This layout of plants is one of the ones I've been working on lately. Remember one of my posts where I shared a picture of plants in frames? 

The other thing I noticed from this trip lies in the selection of plants. I've done a bit of homework since and I suppose most of you may already know this - some plants are just more suited for the low lighting indoors. Those might be the plants to consider if you're also planning to have plants as indoor decorations. 

A wall of plants in a public washroom.

That being said, I've been taking a long break, what with the dreadful cold and cough I developed during the trip. And my mind hasn't been idle. With various festivities coming up, I guess decorating our house to receive guests may be top on our minds. I'll be sharing some of the ways I've transformed the containers lying around my house and how discuss how you might want to consider using them to decorate your house for the rest of the year and the next year.

The last time I blogged...

I have to apologize for the lapse since my last entry. I've been away to Taipei and since then, been nursing a cough that just won't go away.

Notice how most of the branches are droopy or are nearly broken off 

I left my garden to my husband and came back to find that it's now nearly barren -- he made the same mistake as I did many years ago of assuming that nature will take care of the plants since it's been rainy and killed off half my plants. Those that did survived have been prey to my playful kitten.

This is how some of my plants look like now >>

I do have positive news though. My compost project is going well - it is completely devoid of smell and the recycled vegetables, paper and coffee/tea are browning very nicely. Do watch out for my photos, which will be posted soon!

I will be posting another entry soon about planting from scratch - I will be starting an "edible garden" out on my balcony and all the plants will be grown from seed.

Meanwhile, I am hoping to recover enough to clear up the mess on the balcony.....

Things you wanna keep out of the compost

In my last entry, I discussed the kinds of items to be included in the compost. In fact, I found a whole list of bizarre things that can be included in the compost, ranging from pet fur to road kill (not quite applicable here, unless you're talking about the poor animals that mysteriously end up dead on the PIE...). Today, let's talk about things we want to avoid having in our compost.

Since the whole reason why we want to compost is so we know exactly what we're feeding our house herbs and food plants with, it might defeat the purpose a little to include the following:

1. Tissue with our/someone else's mucus. This may sound a little obvious, but since tissue is one of those paper products that we can include in our compost, I imagine when we're collecting stuff to recycle, we might just include one of these by accident. Do be careful, because we don't want to be feeding our compost viruses!

2. Leftover meat (either cooked or raw). The C-project described here is meant to be an indoor endeavor.  So meat products are a big no-no. Not only are they slow to compost, they might attract the wrong company with bad odors. So if you're thinking of composting leftover food, make sure you filter out those meat.

3. Pet poop. For the same reason why we want to avoid mucus-covered tissues, we want to avoid poop. Adding them to the pile only brings you more complications, in the form of bacteria and parasites, to name a few. There's also the matter of hygiene - my compost bin is right by my kitchen sink, so I wouldn't want poop anywhere near where I am handling food.

4. Diseased anything. There are many sites that advice against including diseased plants. I know it's tempting to just include those greens that used to do so well in your garden. But, if including them makes it impossible to use your compost soil for your new plants, I think it's better to just avoid them.

There are many other things that different sites and books recommended excluding from our compost. I think as beginners in indoor composting, we should avoid all things that are known to smell. If you have your compost in your kitchen, another thing to avoid would be having items that breed or contain bacteria around. I guess if we followed all these precautions, our composting project should be a fun one!

Here's a list of the sites I referred to while preparing this entry...
>> 22 things you didn't know you could compost, WebEcoist
>> 7 things you should never compost, Veggie Gardener
>> How not to compost: 10 things to leave out of the bin, Planet Green

The stuff that becomes "gold"...

Now that we've got our compost bins and we're all ready to start on our home C-project, the next question really is - what do we compost? Most sites and books recommend starting a compost pile either with worms or compost soil, which can kick start the composting process. I chose to have compost soil (since I happen to have them) instead of worms for this project.

Egg shells, garlic skin, carrot peels & Ti Wang Choy ends.

Most families in Singapore tend to have pretty much all their meals out; cooking can be an infrequent affair. I also find it challenging to have to prepare all my meals at home especially when work hours get hectic. If we didn't have to cook for the pets, I doubt we would have much to compost. As it is, we have lots of potato and carrot peels, sometimes veggie-roots, and egg shells for recycling.

For our C-project, here are some of the things you can include and hope it becomes "gold" in your compost:

Potato, carrot peels, coffee & tea.

1. Veggie scraps - in the form of peels or ends. I filled mine up with potato and carrot peels on the first day. Today, I topped it up with garlic skin, more carrot peels and Ti Wang Choy ends.

2. Egg shells - The important thing to note when adding these shells in our home compost is to make sure we wash them clean and crush them first. Egg remaining in the shell is likely to start stinking. If you have a small kitchen like I do, I would want to make sure those shells are clean before they go anywhere near the pile...

3. Tea leaves or coffee grinds - One of the articles I referred to on Gaiam life, Can I compost this? lists tea leaves as green materials and coffee grinds (including the filter) as brown materials. Both contribute differently and we should bear in mind the kind of green vs. brown proportion we want (roughly 50-50). If you're a heavy tea drinker and lighter on the coffee, you might want to ask for some from friends who have coffee grinds or seek out alternative brown materials for your compost.

4. Peanut shells - I think this is something most household would have, especially around Chinese New Year. This is excellent brown material and the next time you have a party where peanuts are served, save the shells!

5. Newspaper & cardboard - Newspaper and cardboard are considered brown materials and need to be shredded before they get added to the compost pile. You might not want to have a compost full of newspaper but adding some of these dry materials will help with the smell and can be used as "bedding".

These five are materials that I imagine we come into more contact with. Another material could be flower clippings from floral arrangements or even flowers that have withered. I would be cautious about adding flowers that have been dyed, but other than that, they make a good addition to your compost.

In my next entry, I shall talk more about what NOT to add... Do watch out for it!

Here's a list of some of the sites where I got my information from...
>> Compost This! What to put in your composter @ Gaiam Life
>> Composting at home with Ohio State University 
>> Indoor composting tips and techniques @ compostjunkie