Our front yard experiment isn't going that well. Two of the border plants died. One of them got either eaten away by some animal (it could have been a little human too). Apart from that some basic work with the soil has to be done to make those plots better suited for plant growth.
Meanwhile, we had some coconut fibers (కొబ్బరి పీచు) as waste and I knew from my vermicomposting basics that they make very good substratum for vermicomposting pits. One of the main reasons being their high water retention capacity. It seems like the long fibers are removed for coir and the by products are the material for composting. Nevertheless, I wanted to see if I can do an experiment with the whole fiber in coconut fruit.
I got almost three bags full of coconut fiber from a near by 'kirana' store. I made a 1.5'x1.5'x1.5' pit in our backyard and filled it with whole coconut fibers. I covered it with 3-4" of soil, and watered the pit (~25 liters). I would like to wait for about 3 months and see what it will end up becoming. In the meantime I am in the look out for an machine which will shred the coconut fiber into almost coconut dust. This, I am sure, is a better starting point for composting. I have read a little bit of information that this seems to be the best way to go.
If this experiment works, and I am able to get a machine to shred coconut fibers, I am keen to start a small scale project. The main idea in this project is to collect coconut fiber from nearby retail stores (which is currently discarded as waste, from what I learnt) and shred them. Hopefully the shredded fiber can be directly sold as soil supplement for plants, and also after composting. If it can generate enough revenue to sustain itself (employ one full time labor), that would be wonderful.
Lots to learn in this regard and am excited about the possibilities. I hope to get some serious advice and suggestions too. I have contacted a few people already but yet to get some information. [Dr. LG Giri Rao, Director of Extension, ANGRAU (91-99896 25231) was kind and called me to give the contact information of Sri S. Venkataramana (9440054476) Assistant. Manager of Hyderabad Office of Coconut Development Board of India. Sri Venkataramana gave me the contact information of a technical expert in their Rajamundry office, Sri Sarma (9866012622). I am yet to get information from Sri Sarma. Sri Venkataramana also said that they have a Cocopeat production kit which will cost around Rs.15 lakhs. It's way beyond my budget so will try something small].
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Border plants in the front yard
On 2 June 2008 the telephone booth in front of our house was finally removed. It took some time before the area got cleaned up. The plan was to have a small garden outside the compound wall. So, two plots (6'x8') were created, with cemented borders. A nice bamboo grill was put in the front. The problem was the plots themselves. The soil was not great and has too many rocks.
When branches of a gulmohar-like tree standing in one of the plots were cut to make way for the overhead wires, we put most of the leaves and some branches into the plots. The plan was to compost them right there, making the soil slightly better over the next few months.
We have been thinking about planting some hedge/border plants soon since the monsoons have set. We have already had a few showers. So, yesterday (14 June 2008) we went to Basheerbagh in the hopes of finding some plants. We got lucky and found a road-side nursery selling a variety of plants. We chose one kind of border plant and bought six of those. We also bought a lavender plant. We will plant it some place nice in the plots.
I planted three of the plants on one end of the plots this morning. I dug pits, one foot apart, about half foot deep and put a layer of drying leaves, a layer of vermicompost covering the drying leaves, and then placed the plants. I covered the plant roots with some soil and watered (water mixed with NPK) the plants. In the evening, we did the same on the other end of the plots. The one difference is that we used some vegetable skins (mango and potato) in addition to drying leaves in the bottom of the pits. They look pretty, despite the fact that the rest of the area in the plots are filled with a mixture of drying branches, and small rocks.
When branches of a gulmohar-like tree standing in one of the plots were cut to make way for the overhead wires, we put most of the leaves and some branches into the plots. The plan was to compost them right there, making the soil slightly better over the next few months.
We have been thinking about planting some hedge/border plants soon since the monsoons have set. We have already had a few showers. So, yesterday (14 June 2008) we went to Basheerbagh in the hopes of finding some plants. We got lucky and found a road-side nursery selling a variety of plants. We chose one kind of border plant and bought six of those. We also bought a lavender plant. We will plant it some place nice in the plots.
I planted three of the plants on one end of the plots this morning. I dug pits, one foot apart, about half foot deep and put a layer of drying leaves, a layer of vermicompost covering the drying leaves, and then placed the plants. I covered the plant roots with some soil and watered (water mixed with NPK) the plants. In the evening, we did the same on the other end of the plots. The one difference is that we used some vegetable skins (mango and potato) in addition to drying leaves in the bottom of the pits. They look pretty, despite the fact that the rest of the area in the plots are filled with a mixture of drying branches, and small rocks.
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