Amrita's journey into gardening and her role as a major brown leaves consumer

Enjoy Amrita's journey into gardening using brown leaves.

Hello Friends,

Let me narrate to you my journey into gardening & my role as a major Brown leaves consumer.

I entered into the world of gardening in May 2015. Inspiration was “taking care of a tomato plant gifted to my daughter”. That is where my journey into composting got started, where I stumbled upon the most most important ingredient for composting, which was till now inconspicuous in my life – THE BROWN LEAVES.

Since monsoon was about to begin, I decided to stock brown leaves and collected about 6-7 gunny bags from nearby areas and friends and thought, “This is a huge quantity that I have collected which would suffice my needs for 1 year”. But, I was wrong. I consumed these leaves in a matter of 4 months and was left with only option of using soil for composting. In this 4 month’s journey I experimented using brown leaves for composting and mulching. At that time I was unaware about which leaves to use and which not. During my usage, I realized that I had collected very small sized leaves with the intention that they would decompose fast but to my dismay, they didn’t decompose even after 6months. That’s when I got experiential understanding about leaves of native trees and non-native trees and their behaviour during decomposition.

Later that year, after monsoon, I became a member of Brown leaf. Thanks to Aditi Deodhar for taking responsibility for brown leaves and initiating this project and making brown leaves easily available to all. During that period, I read about “Urban leaves” from Mumbai who prepare their “Amrut Mitti” by using only Brown leaves. I didn’t have the patience and dedication to prepare Amrut mitti. But, I used a short-cut method- I soaked brown leaves in diluted jeevamrut overnight. Next day, I removed them and stored them in aerated barrels for decomposition. The result which I got after 1.5months was fabulous. I got “Black gold”- truly jet- black just like charcoal. I have also prepared compost from brown leaves using culture but the results are very different. When I used jeevamrut- the result was a very fine, jet-black soil with earthworms in it which was ready in a short span of 1.5months. With culture, the result was not so very fine, time taken was about 3 months, didn’t see any earthworms.

From then-on, there is no looking back. My garden has soil which I had purchased when I had started my gardening in May 2015. After that, I have expanded my garden multi-fold but never purchased anything from outside. I have expanded using compost prepared at home, brown leaves compost. Since compost from waste generated by my house is insufficient for my garden, I also collect left-over vegetables from near-by vegetable vendors and also from my friends.

List of vegetables and fruits and flowers that I have grown and keep growing:

Ginger, turmeric, lettuce, basil, oregano, parsley, Kapoor tulsi, Krishna tulsi, Thai Basil, Lemongrass, Magai paan, Banarasi paan, Curry leaves, aloevera, colocassia leaves, lemon, drumstick, all spice, bay leaves, lady’s fingers, pumpkin, bitter-gourd, ridge- gourd, snake-gourd, spinach, amaranthus, fenugreek, French beans, tomatoes, beetroot, white radish, turnip, red radish, papaya, pomegranate, sweet lime, chickoo, guava, custard apple, mulberry, neem, fig, deshi gulab.

I prepare Italian herb mix by using herbs from my own garden for last 1 year. I prepare Gulkand at home from rose petals. This year I got my 1st harvest of turmeric from which I prepared turmeric powder for my family.

Let me share with you my procedure for growing turmeric:

1. Ideal time to sow turmeric and/or ginger is April/May so that they sufficient sunlight to sprout and can start flourishing during monsoons.

2. Turmeric- rather any root requires well-drained soil for them to grow effortlessly without much resistance.

3. Container needs to be wide so that they get sufficient horizontal space to grow.

4. Time from sowing to harvesting is around 8 to 9 months.

5. For sowing you require turmeric(oli halad). I storeturmeric rhizomes in a plastic bag and keep in a dark area. Within a month’s time, the rhizomes start sprouting.

6. You can also use our traditional method of sprouting which we use at home.

7. After the rhizomes have sprouted, I prepare my container with well-drained soil and sow them in such a way that the sprouted area is slightly visible just above the soil.

8. Keep watering. After turmeric has shoots and leaves, I keep mulching the top portion. That is it. It doesn’t require regular nutrition of compost or anything.

9. During monsoon, I keep it under shade so that there isn’t too much water that it will rot.

Hope whatever I shared as my experience is useful to all. Also, please feel to share your feedbacks so that I can learn from them.

Live every moment as a student, so that we all keep learning and growing.