Is your dessert these days a bowl of refreshing watermelon?
Great choice.
But once you’re done eating the pulp, don’t discard the rinds just yet as gardeners believe it makes an excellent compost!
Anupama Desai, an urban gardener from Surat, finds value in using rinds of fruits to prepare compost for plants.
“Watermelon rinds contain potassium, phosphorus, calcium, carbohydrates, and many other micronutrients. Compost prepared from its rinds acts as a very good fertiliser,” she adds.
What’s more is that the technique is simple and all you need is water.
Here, she shares a step-by-step guide to preparing compost from leftover watermelon rinds:
1. Chop the rinds into small pieces as they will save compost preparation time by decomposing faster.
2. Transfer the chopped rinds to a plastic bucket. Fill this bucket with water twice as much as the watermelon rinds. Use tap water for this purpose.
3. Cover this bucket and keep it under shade, away from sunlight.
4. Stir the contents of the mixture once every day.
5. The liquid fertiliser will be ready to use in about three days.
6. Filter the mixture and strain the water. Now you can either add the fertiliser to the plants directly or mix it with water in a ratio of 1:1.
7. Give this fertiliser to the plants in the morning or after sunset.