The garden’s secret ingredient is the compost made from factory waste which provides quality soil and natural pest control. “It normally takes 120 days to create compost from organic matter,” says Rodrigo. “We had tech on the site to reduce the time needed to ten days. We simply put everything in a mixer and use peat and calcium hydroxide to accelerate the exothermic reaction and incorporate beneficial bacteria.”
The greenhouses and their raised plant beds were completed on a glorious sunny day. Fittingly, salad leaves were chosen as their first crop. “We made planting into a family day. It was a lovely to see how much fun some of the kids had digging the soil and getting their hands dirty,” Rodrigo says.