There are a lot of composting methods to use in the farm/garden, we are using three methods in our garden :
1. Banana circle for composting our kitchen waste and weeds.
2. Vermicompost for composting our beloved pet’s poo.
3. Aquaculture for our grey water reuse.
Today is our schedule to make a banana circle. Banana circle is basically a circular swale with various tropical plant sorrounding it, it was good to put all your kitchen scraps, cardboard, paper, weeds, branches etc. On top of that, bananas grow well in a circle, and bear bunches on the outside. Both bananas and papaya are gross feeders and thrive on nutrients from the decaying organic matter in the central hole. So not only we get the compost, but also the fruit and root crops. How cool is that?
We pick up the area for banana circle, it is the hottest area and the most dry area (full sun from dusk till dawn) in the garden, so it’s difficult for vegetable to grow without a shade. We hope that the banana circle can give a shade to the area surrounding.
We are starting by marking a circle about two metres in diameter. Then dig a dish-shaped hole 0.5 to one metre deep in the centre. Mound the soil around the outside in a circular ridge. We cover the circle with cardboard, banana leaves, course twigs, leaves, straw, decaying logs, rice husks and all of our kitchen scrap, then add scatterings of manure, ash, lime, dolomite or other fertilisers.
It will sink down over time.
We plant :
6 bananas around the rim
6 papayas in between banana
6 cassavas in between banana and papaya
12 lemongrass in front of the cassava plant
6 sweet potato outside the rim
We also plan a tiny winy mandala garden using the circle and we planted with cosmos caudatus, rosella, cassava, legumes and we add yellow bamboo.
