Dad in his compost in the UK
When I was moving house I found some old external hard drives and when I checked to see what was on them, I was delighted to find some of my old Blogs. Regular readers will know that I was forced to remove my old Blog ( Britinbahrain) by my last but one Manager. This blog was one of them and I have just updated it a little:
Composting in Bahrain
One of my early memories of gardening as a boy was of my father’s compost heap. All the weeds and grass cuttings went on here in a corner of the garden and it would then be covered with a chemical which helped it break down and eventually (after a year) it had rotted enough to form compost which he would add to the flower beds, vegetable patch etc. to help them grow.
When I had my own garden, first in Worcester and then in Birmingham in the UK, I set up my own small composts and when I moved to Bahrain decided to do the same. I checked with a colleague back in the UK (“Dr Compost” as we called him) and he advised me that the only difference between composting in the Middle East and the UK would be that due to the heat the compost would rot much faster. He therefore advised adding water to keep it cooler and moist to encourage the bacteria to do their thing. He also suggested that I use cardboard in layers with the green waste to keep the heat and moisture in.
I started small with an old chemical barrel for grass cuttings, and to this I added shredded paper as the layers to keep the heat in. It turned to compost so fast that I decided I needed a larger area. I found some recycled wood and my gardener, Shji, built a pen. We put the garden waste in there, layered with grass and cardboard and again it decomposed quickly, reducing in volume in the sun by 50% in 3 months. The compost we used from both the drum and the first wooden compost had a miraculous effect on everything we applied it to – tomatoes, potatoes and flowers alike. A side effect of adding recycled water was that when the water soaked through the compost it leached out the nutrients which escaped from the bottom of the compost as a liquid fertiliser. Suddenly everything in its path grew like crazy and a sandy patch became a green oasis.
As news spread of my compost and its magic qualities people started bringing their grass, food wastes (vegetable trimmings, tops of pineapples etc.) and asking for compost in return. The hardest part of the process was bagging the compost once it had rotted and taking the bags to the gate for collection. I got my gardener and many friends to assist over the years but it was hard backbreaking work in the heat and often high humidity. Also, the initial design of the compost made it difficult to get the bags of grass cuttings in and the finished compost out. When the first small compost was full, we built a much larger one but this took a lot longer to fill and rot down. The next year we split the large compost into two and added doors to the front so you could wheel the grass in and easily lift the compost out. Each year we refined the process, observing what rotted quickly (grass and vegetable peelings ) and what did not ( Pampas grass, Bougainvillea , and palm trees!).
By now we needed more compostable material having three large compost areas to fill and so I started scouring Awali in my car every Friday morning, as the sun was coming up. I would collect any bags of compostable material I could find and take them home in my hired Nissan Micra. I think the most I managed to get in, with the rear seats down, was 33 large black bin bags full of grass. I certainly developed muscles lifting that lot and sweated off a lot of weight. Over time another compost area was added just for grass, then a second, and this rotted much faster. Awali has a wonderful park and when they cut the grass or trim back the Pampas grass there is a lovely smell in my garden as it all rots down.
One of my Australian colleagues tried the compost and told a Bahrain colleague who did an experiment on his tomatoes. He put my compost on one third and shop bought compost on the rest. My crop produced three times the number of tomatoes. He paid for the compost with tomatoes and other seedlings for me to grow and so the barter system evolved with many colleagues who would swap fruit and veg, grass cuttings and food waste for compost. John Jaworski paid in CD’s , Beth Robinson gave me 10 Dessert Roses which I later sold for 20 bd each and Alpesh and his family and Matthew, Marisol and Lukas gave me their vegetable peelings daily.
By the time the compost was its current size we were producing 100 bags of compost a year- all for free, from waste that would otherwise be land filled. I am lucky to have a large garden and a ready supply of garden waste but have since advised many others on how to set up smaller composts in their gardens. All you need is a small area and ensure it has good drainage and then put in smaller items of garden waste (plants, grass etc.). Then when it is maybe 12 inches deep add a layer of cardboard ( I recycled boxes from work or collect cardboard boxes that people leave out for the dustmen , and then water regularly ( twice a week or more in the summer) . It should be damp rather than sitting in water. If you avoid meat or fish which will attract vermin then your compost will not smell. You can also use plastic drums if you do not have as much space. Again, ensure there are holes at the bottom for the water to get out and a lid at the top to keep the moisture in (this also keeps birds, cats and dogs out). One of my former colleagues set up a business selling rotating drums. My drum was on a stand which allowed me to turn it (like a raffle or tombola drum) which helped the garden waste inside rot faster and was easier to empty.
Many people have suggested I turn it into a commercial business but for me it’s a relaxing healthy hobby which helps reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and keeps me in free compost (and many of my friends and colleagues!). I have also met many wonderful people who have come around, often with their kids, to learn about composting. When I left Bahrain, I gave one of the rotating composters to Matthew and Marisol and one to Johan and Barbara, over the road. The rotating drums were a gift to me from one of my ILM students, Rashid. I have written articles for the paper and the Recycle points website and was asked to make a talk on Composting in El Nido a few years back.
If you want to find out more there are several good articles and a TED talk on the web and of course many blogs! I have included in this blog some of my photos so you can see what I am talking about showing the growth of the compost over the last 5 years.
You can also read more at:
http://www.recyclepointsbh.com/successstories.html
Here is just a little background to get you started from Jameela’ s excellent website:
Home composting
What is compost?
Compost is decomposed organic material that is produced when bacteria in the soil break down garbage and biodegradable trash, resulting in a product rich in minerals that is ideal for your garden
Why compost?
• For one, it’s free. You get to use kitchen waste, lawn clippings, leaves and other vegetation that would otherwise get thrown away.
• Potting mixes and soils that are rich in compost produce vigorous plants regardless of whether you’re growing vegetables, growing herbs or organic rose gardening.
• Compost improves garden soil structure, texture and aeration.
• Adding compost improves soil fertility and stimulates healthy root development in plants. The organic matter provided in compost provides food for microorganisms, which keeps the soil in a healthy, balanced condition.
• Compost loosens clay soils and helps sandy soils retain water
• No need to add fertilizer — just mix compost into the soil. Compost contains nutrients that plants need for optimum growth, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. And it’s an especially good supplier of micronutrients that are needed in small quantities such as boron, cobalt, copper, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum and zinc.
• It feels good. When else can you turn trash into treasure? Plus, scraps stay out of the landfill, reducing your footprint.
How does composting work?
You mix garden and kitchen waste in a pile or bin and provide the right conditions to encourage decomposition. Let bacteria and fungi go to work recycling waste material into fertilizer. Mix compost into garden soil or use it on the surface as mulch.
Sounds simple, right?
Well it is.
Microbes are hard at work chomping down your throwaways. You supply the organic materials, water, and oxygen. The bacteria that are already there decompose the plant material into compost. As the bacteria break down the materials, they release heat, which is concentrated in the center of the pile.
Happy Composting!
I hope I have made a lot more people aware of composting in Bahrain and even encouraged some people to start- a nice legacy to leave behind. Sadly after I left Corporate Services destroyed all the remaining composts and threw away the wooden compost pens and drums, so now my old Garden is how it was when I arrived in 2010- a sandy patch. So Sad!
My next challenge is to do the same in the Philippines. I already packed my small green Palaka bins ( and my recycling bins) and I will be ensuring my staff Jhoanna and Jullymar use them correctly. Once I buy my Forever home I have told Daniw we need a big garden by the sea and we will set up a big compost and recycling area for our weekly beach clean ups!
Until then ……
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Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
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