Terrace garden blooms at this ‘zero waste’ home in Chennai
At a time when the dumping of garbage on the streets is still common in the city, this resident of Thiruvottriyur has taken to composting waste in her own backyard, making her house ‘zero waste’. From vegetable waste to egg and fish remains, everything is composted on her terrace garden and used for nurturing fruits and vegetables.
Though terrace composting has been practised by many people across the country, it is yet to gain momentum in the city. Speaking to Express, Pauline, 57, explains it is not a hard task to terrace-compost biowaste. ‘‘One can just start composting in plastic buckets and grow bags (polythene bags), which cost Rs 50 apiece.’’
Every day, Pauline composts at least one kg of biowaste in her terrace. ‘‘I chop down vegetable remains into small pieces and crush eggshells as well. Then it is put into Kambhas (composting pots) for ten days until it is shifted to another pot,’’ she says, adding that it takes between 30 and 45 days for the waste to be composted before it can be used as manure for the plants.
‘‘Buttermilk, rotten milk, fish remains, crushed egg and coconut shell powders can be good intensifiers for the manure. It also adds calcium,’’ says Pauline. Into composting for more than two decades, Pauline’s garden has fruits and vegetables of various kinds such as pomegranate, tomatoes, onions, bitter gourds, chillies and ladies finger among others.
In their leisure time, Pauline, who worked in plant-nurseries, and her husband Gopi, 64, a retired engineer from Abu Dhabi, join hands to compost waste and do gardening together. Gopi says composting and maintaining the garden is their hobby as both of them have retired. ‘‘It is not just about making our house ‘zero waste’ but we get organic food at no cost,’’ he says.
Their terrace garden has more than 50 flowers and vegetables planted in pots, grow bags and buckets. The terrace also has five composting pots. The garden has roof-top nets from which small flower pots hang down. The plants are watered through ‘dripping water bottles’ hung upside down. ‘‘We don’t have to come and water plants often. We fill the bottle, it keeps dripping slowly for the whole day,’’ says Gopi.
Additionally, it is also a house for various birds and animals such as squirrels, sparrows, pigeons, crows and mynas. ‘‘Though the squirrels sometimes eat up the pomegranates, we don’t mind,’’ says Pauline.
She says she learnt composting from plant nurseries and everyone can practise it. ‘‘It pains me to see garbage trucks carry biowaste every day. If people take a little effort, every house can be made into a zero-waste one,’’ adds Pauline.
Not one bit of biowaste leaves Pauline's house nor does rainwater. ‘‘All the water from the terrace is taken to the ground by two rainwater harvesting pipes. Everything is recycled in our house,’’ she says.
She adds that composting is not time-consuming and is cost-efficient.
‘‘It just takes 30 minutes to cut all the material and another 30 minutes to mix them and put it in a grow bag or a bucket,’’ says Pauline.