ZERO WASTE (PATIO)GARDEN
April 09, 2021ZERO WASTE (Patio)GARDEN
Gardens are the miniatures of Nature. If every single house can have a garden or at least a plant can make our earth more beautiful and less suffocating. Because I believe, "Pennies Make Pounds". What can be glorious than having your own garden which supports ZERO WASTE!! Actually, I was waiting to do this post for a long time now. This should have my next post after my ZERO-WASTE post.
That post is close to my heart. The content of that posts was from the bottom of my heart. I wanted to share that thought out loud as much as I can. And If you wish for something genuinely one or the other it will come true for sure. That post was such an example because even though I not a well-known blogger or anything still ZERO-WASTE is the most-read post among my all other posts. And I am thankful and a bit proud of it.
After I realized that it’s reaching more people than I expected. I was so clear that if I share something it should work as perfectly as can otherwise I don't want to do that. So whatever idea I have given in this post really did work for me. After seeing its results only I am doing this post today. And I made sure to justify the title I tried my best to implement the concept of Zero waste in every possible way.
In the USA March, April and May are spring seasons. It's the only and the best time for planting. The summer will be too hot, during the rainy season it's there is no guarantee for proper sunlight and, in the winter even though we don't get snow the temperature will be too low for the plants to survive. So this is the perfect window for garners to explore with their gardens. As I told you before I tried the following method last year during the spring.
And I got great results and this year I already started transplanting my plants in separate containers.
So I guess the information I have shared above will be convincing enough for you guys to keep reading. Here comes my method of Zero Waste Garden.
MATERIALS I USED:
1. Empty Rice Bags and Large food containers.
2. Stones in different sizes.
3. Broken Tree Sticks and Barks.
4. Shedded Tree and plant leaves.
5. Small Paper and Cardboard pieces.
6. Vegetable Scraps.
7. Dirt (Soil).
8. Homemade Compost.
9. Seeds.
METHOD:
1. Choosing the Container: is an important step. Because depends on what kind of plant you want to grow you have to choose the container accordingly. In my small garden, I used empty rice bags and some big and small food containers for example the milk cans( Our milk cans capacity is almost 4liters) and some buckets I saved when we got grocery and food items in large quantity. In simple, you can use every small and big container in your home for gardening.
2. Layers of the Container: After choosing the container put some drainage holes at the lower level and at the bottom of your container. Here I am making few layers in my container before planting and every layer serves a purpose to ensure plant growth uniquely.
LAYER 1(2inches) As the first layer arranges some stones without blocking the drainage holes. This will give good oxygen to the roots. This can also can help prevent root rotting because of excess watering and few other reasons. Additionally, in my case when I used the rice bags this stone layer gave me the study base as a container to holds in shape.
LAYER 3(2 inches)This layer is one of my favorites. It's a layer of paper and cardboard. The reason why I like this is I can use all the papers my kids used to write and draw all this time and I can utilize the cardboard pieces as well in my garden. And favorite part is I used to get help from kids to cut those into small pieces using scissors and with our hands most of the time. While we are cutting the papers I used to talk about gardening, recycling and, how can we reduce wastes and all. Even though their main happiness is to explore with their scissors, they used to pay attention to the details and things I was told them. So I consider it one of the best quality time I got to spend with them😍. 
LAYER 5(According to your container) Finally this layer is dirt(Soil). You can use any kind of potting soil available with you. Since we are using lots of organic material in our containers I won't prefer to spend any extra money on organic potting soils. Here the potting soil we get will be already a mix of compost and burnt organic materials. Even they won't be smooth you can only see some soil among the half-burnt tree barks😉. If you prefer to use a mixture of different varieties of soil or materials like cocoa peat feel free to use your success formula👍.
LAYER 6(Seed) Before put seeds in the containers damp the soil with some water. Then according to the kind of seed you choose place them in the appropriate distance by making half an inch deep wholes not deeper than that. And cover the seeds with a small amount of soil on top just to protect the seeds from drying out in the sunlight. And it will be easy for sprouts to come out easily from the seeds when the time comes.
And here are some beauties from my Zero Waste Garden:
TIPS FOR A HEALTHY GARDEN:
1. Homemade Compost is the golden ticket for a healthy garden. And making them at home without getting anything from shops is really possible. For example, I was a hobby whatever is available, at stores always try to make them at home with the things available. So my compost is made in a couple of plastic bags (White and Black) and some paper wastes and kitchen scraps. Will try to do a post on my easy compost sometime soon.
2. Epsom Salt is a secret ingredient of my garden. In fact, it's kind of an organic matter but not exactly. Except for this I never ever used any fertilizer on my plants. They help in lots of ways in the garden from triggering the plants to form roots to make them colorful and healthy. I just used to spray a mix of 1liter of water and 1tbsp of Epsom salt on my plants every 15 days that's it. They do wonders. After seeing the results in my garden I recommended a few of my friends and it just amazing. It will work on all kinds of plants from vegetables to flowers and indoor plants to outdoor.
3. Organic fertilizers. This is very important for small gardens when are using no other fertilizers. The fertilizers I am talking about are Banana peel water, Potato peel water, Beetroot peel water, Fermented curd, and simply rice rinsed water. These are more than enough for all kinds of plants.
4. Companion Plants is a magic word, you guys. It means planting two different kinds of plants near each other or in the same container. It helps both the plants benefited from the chemical release from their root. This can nurture each other, immunize them against the small fungal and bacterial formation and it can at times help to protect from small harmful bugs.
5. Finally between any of the layers add garlic and onion peels. This may act as an insect repellent and also it’s a good slow release fertilizer for your plants.
I enjoyed working on this post a lot😍😎. Hope it is useful for you guys as well to enjoy and explore the wonder of nature at your homes. Please share your garden secrets and tips(Especially for Curry leaves) with me to make gardening a happy experience for everyone. HAPPY GARDENING. Until next time, "Stay Positive and Keep Smiling😀".
FUN FACTS ON GARDENING:
1. There are more microorganisms in one teaspoon
of soil than there are people on earth.
2. There are 10.000 varieties of tomatoes in the world. And 60Million tons of tomatoes are produced each year. Our family can be the most tomato-consuming families in the world😉, Who knows😂!!
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