“I feel young even at the age of 72 years. I have no problem climbing up & down the stairs. I do gardening by myself. Bringing pots, bringing soil, taking care of plants, I do all of this work myself. I believe in, the more you stay connected with nature, the more active you will be & the better your health will be,” says Rajinder Singh of Punjab.
Rajinder Singh, a resident of Ludhiana, today is an inspiration for all of us including the youth. He not only helps his kids in the business but he is also doing regular gardening & composting.
First in the Army, then in the Bank
Outside Rajinder Singh's house, from the courtyard to his terrace, there are trees & plants everywhere. Also, to take care of these trees & plants, he himself prepares different types of manure.
Rajinder said, “I have studied only till 10th standard, then I have started working in a factory. After some time, I have joined the Indian Army. While in the army, I also studied till graduation. But I was not promoted, so I retired after 15 years of my service. And after my retirement, I got a job as a clerk in the State Bank of India”.
In 2007, Rajinder got retired from the bank & he started helping his son in a chemist shop. He told that “Earlier he used to stay in shop from 8 am to 10 pm. But now for some time, I give half a day to the shop and do gardening in rest of the time. I make manure for plants, sometimes I do plantation along with some of my colleagues. Now even the municipal corporation calls me to make people aware”.
Started Gardening 4 Years Ago
He told that there is a little empty space outside his house, in which he had planted some fruit trees. But, once his garden got spoiled and many trees were damaged. He told that till then he was not much interested in horticulture or composting.
But at that time, their children contacted an expert to fix the garden. And, when the expert asked for a high fee, Rajinder decided that he would fix this garden himself. He said, “Then I started reading about the different plants. He used to go to different nurseries & keep asking other people. My interest in plants started growing. After that, I got my garden ready again. Today it has orange, lemon, potato, Bukhara, and apple trees. After this, I planted some flower plants on my terrace as well”.
Today he has 500 pots on his terrace, in which, along with flowers he is also growing seasonal vegetables such as okra, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, tomato, and brinjal. This time he had so many gourds & bitter gourds in his garden that he had to distribute them among the people.
Different Types of Fertilizers
Rajinder says that now due to the gardening, no wet & organic waste goes out from his house. Rather, sometimes he brings the leaves lying on the roadside to make manure. He told that “I have started making compost at home along with the gardening. As I started getting success, I kept on moving forward. Now I prepare around 10 types of compost. No waste from the kitchen & garden of my house goes outside the house”.
How to Make Compost: By Rajinder Singh
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Rajinder prepares 2 types of manure from banana peels. In one way, the skins are dried and powdered and in the other way, liquid manure is made.
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The onion peels make good dry manure.
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He prepares compost from used tea leaves.
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Eggshells are crushed & stored in powder form so that they can be added to the plants for calcium.
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Bio enzymes are prepared from peels of lemons, oranges & tangerines. After this, the remaining waste is used to make dry manure.
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Leaf compost is prepared by drying all the fallen leaves in the garden.
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By collecting the peels of all fruits & vegetables, he prepares the dry manure.
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Collect all the dried flowers & prepare both liquid compost and dry powder nutrition. It is very effective for flowering plants.
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Neem leaves are dried and made neemkhali. In addition, insect repellants are also prepared from the nimboli & leaves.
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Also, the sour lassi that is left in the house makes insect repellent. Moreover, after making the cheese, all the remaining waste is also used to nourish the plants.
