I haven’t got around to writing a new post in a few weeks, and part of the reason was this inspiring set of posts from fellow gardener Srikant that left me thinking what more I could write. This is part 3 of his beginner’s series that also has links to the previous 2.

http://thealternative.in/environment/a-beginners-guide-to-organic-terrace-gardening-from-seeding-to-pest-management/ 

A discussion with a friend the other day on how to get started off on waste segregation set me thinking on some of the ways composting, segregating waste and gardening have affected my life. Here are a few:

1. Buttermilk is now no longer something that quenches my thirst, but is mostly reserved for my curry leaf plants. It really has a great effect, and after pouring diluted and really sour buttermilk you can literally see new sprigs of large leaves appearing within days!
2. When visiting someone’s home and seeing plastic in the waste bin, my hand reaches out for it, and it especially itches when I see milk packets that can be washed and segregated pretty easily. Most of my friends and relatives do end up getting gyan from me on the subject ;).
3. Dry leaves – on the road, getting burnt – anything to do with them gets me into a contemplative or sometimes angry mode. This is such a wonderful resource and so easy to gather and use, that it amazes me that a city of gardens and parks doesn’t make better use of it. The lady who sweeps my road is used to my yearly requests and dumbfounded when I tell her I don’t want the silver-oak leaves, as they don’t compost easily.
4. Repeat point 1 for organic waste like veggie and fruit peels. I have often contemplated a community composting arrangement so that I can collect these from neighbours. Now if only I could figure out where to keep it.
5. When eating literally any fruit, I have a hard time throwing away the seeds! It’s tough to not dream of that farmland where I can go and sow whatever I want and never throw any seeds away.
6. In my early gardening days I used to grow a lot of things that I had no clue how to use or cook, leading to a lot of “interesting” recipes. Thanks to all my gardening friends and the Internet, most of these turned out to be edible 😉 !
7. From being the kind who would wince at seeing a bug, I now usually take a picture of it to try to figure out what kind it is!

And the list goes on, but these are the first to come to mind. Are you a gardener too? Share your quirk with me too!