They're Still Alive!

Good Morning! I harvested a few a basil leaves this morning and decided to also share my gardening experience. As you can see, my experience is quite....limited. They haven't died yet, so that's progress from my past. On the right side is rosemary - a hearty herb that seems to survive anything. I'm thinking I need to find some sort of plant food, then again, I could just create compost.

This is the realistic turn of events I envision with me making compost:

First, I think of how great of project it would be. Everyday, I throw away compost scraps like egg shells, fruit and vegetable scarps. So then I venture to the gardening place and maybe stop by Lowe's and purchase supplies needed to make a mini compost area. I come home, mix the soil, dried items like leaves and sticks and create my designated daily compost collection bin on my kitchen counter that I would empty out every day.

***2 weeks goes by***
I do my first mixing of the compost and have been faithful to emptying out my kitchen compost bin everyday. I'm thinking, "I'm on a role and what an awesome organic gardener I'm growing to be".

***another 2 weeks go by.......oops, maybe 4 weeks***
I've been so busy with work and involving my daughter in new weekly activities, I swear I just mixed it what felt like two weeks ago. I go to my compost pile, open the lid.....I immediately turn my nose in disgust and find a colony of ants marching to and from the pile. Pill bugs are everywhere. Cockroaches are laying eggs. I'm finding larvae mixed in everywhere. So I go to website of how to get rid of the bug and insects..."simply lay them on a tarp in the sun for them to dry". I lay the piling onto a tarp like the website says. All of a sudden, it starts to rain and storm because I live in Hawaii and it's winter! My simple layer of compost and insects have dispersed amongst the yard and my fence is crawling with every gardening insect known to man!  Car alarms go off, the sound of babies crying are surrounding me, I see a tsunami heading our way, riots are everywhere in the neighborhood.....what is going on!!?????

Back to reality: maybe composting isn't for me just yet or maybe I'm just over estimating my composting reality. But I would like to find other means to create natural plant food nonetheless.

Anyways, if any of you can offer plant food advice, I'd love to hear about it!