Bokashi Update
Back in May, I promised you an update on how my trials with bokashi were working out. Bokashi is a Japanese composting method that sort of pickles your food scraps (see my earlier post: Bokashi – A Japanese Health Spa for Plants)
Well, the results are in and …
THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!!!
For the life of me, I can’t figure out why bokashi is not referred to more in gardening magazines. It requires almost no maintenance, which means that its significantly easier than a worm farm or a compost heap. It takes all kinds of scraps, including citrus, onion, bones and even small amounts of meat! When its full, you just dump it in a hole and let it do its thing. I planted a tree on top of the area where I put my first bin full of bokashi and it is loving it! Its still winter, but its top with lots of fresh, red, new growth.
Planted on my first bokashi trench, this little tree is thriving!
The best part about bokashi however I think is this. The one thing that stops most people from saving their food scraps and putting them back into the garden as compost is the storage and resulting smell. You invariably need a little bin in the kitchen that goes mouldy and smelly within a day or two and needs to be emptied, either onto a compost heap (if you have enough compost to make it work) or more commonly into the regular bin when its all too hard. But with a bokashi bin, you have an airtight bin almost the size of your regular bins, fill it up as quickly or slowly as you need to over weeks or even months, and IT DOESN’T SMELL!!! There’s a light grainy smell, but that’s it. Can you imagine what the regular garbage bin would smell like if you left it inside for 2 months? I went overseas and came home on the same bin, and it was still fine.
Have a look at this soil. I don’t think it comes across as well in the photograph, but its now rich, moist and full of broken down organic matter where once this soil was bone dry and impoverished. I used it on my worst patch of dusty dirt. The only remnant I could find that there were once full sized food scraps was this mostly decomposed corn cob – not surprisingly, corn takes the longest time to break down.
Rich, compost-laden soil
Last remnants of a corn cob
For all of you that want to compost your kitchen scraps and aren’t sure how or don’t have enough to make a compost heap, you should definitely try bokashi. Its very easy and you get some great results. I’m a convert.
Thank you so much to Flo at Intemperate Edibles – I would never have known about this without your advice and guidance on how to set it up myself.
10 Responses to “Bokashi Update”
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Interesting. Did you use Flo’s recipe or buy the bokashi mix?
And what is the tap used for?
PS. Not at all related to this, but today we were in Bunnings buying a new garden fork and I bought a silverbush because I just couldn’t help myself (they are so pretty!). Where should I put it?
Hiya Karly,
I like the picture with you trying to get your arms around that huge trunk. You’ll have to grow a little more, won’t you
You’re taking ‘sub rosa’ a little too far…
Next time you visit, please say hello.
Karly, I am so interested in this, I have to learn more!! Thanks for introducing me to something new
-Beth
[...] had to share this enthusiastic blog from Karly Winkler in Canberra, Australia — she’s studying horticulture and has a great [...]
Great post! I just linked you into my blog on “all things Bokashi”, bokashiworld.wordpress.com, hope you don’t mind. I also took the liberty of using your great tree-hugging pic (with a credit to you) but it’s no trouble to remove if you’d rather I didn’t.
It will be really interesting to follow your ongoing adventure — stay in touch!!
Jenny
(an ex-northern beaches girl from Sydney, now in the snowy backwoods of Sweden…)
Hey, another convert! Welcome to the madness–next, you’ll start telling _everyone_ how wonderful it is. Then trying experiments to answer questions. Then…
Actually, looks like you’ve already started. Beautiful soil you’ve got there.
Re: the lack of gardening press coverage, I think it’s in large part that the retailers’ product descriptions and directions aren’t yet simple enough. Here in the US, the most publicity comes via compare-and-contrast pieces on “indoor composting,” but since bokashi isn’t what most people mean by that phrase, it doesn’t come off well. Add in a reviewer’s inability to follow simple directions like “drain fluid at least twice weekly” and you get a really negative review, like the one broadcast on National Public Radio not too long ago. Sigh. Whoever said there was no such thing as bad press wasn’t paying attention.
So it was extra-nice to see this.
DSF
Thanks very much for your comments guys!
@DSF – That’s interesting about the press report – I’m really surprised that anyone could give this a negative review. Its not rocket science! I’m pretty loose on sticking to instructions too, but it still works really well for me. You might be right about the retailers descriptions though. There aren’t many retailers in Australia yet, but what gets my goat is the amount of money the suppliers in Australia charge for their kit and particularly for packages of the mix. Its absolutely outrageous. Thankfully I had Flo’s and YouTube’s descriptions to help me sort out my own.
@Kristy – The tap is to drain the fluid off that builds up in the bottom. I don’t do it anywhere near as often as I’m supposed to, but I’ve found that it hasn’t made too much of a difference. You should drain it before burying though.
Hi Karly, thanks for the reference
As an update, I no longer use a tap in my bucket as I don’t use the liquid and I snapped off a few taps accidentally. Now I just decant the scraps from the mini-bucket into the large lidded bucket and leave it for two weeks before burying. The juice builds up at the bottom of course, but it’s never caused any problems.
I’ve also recruited some willing helpers from work – I provide the buckets and bokashi and they give me their scraps. A lovely arrangement, although I’m sure the furtive exchange of white plastic buckets in the work carpark raises some eyebrows
And like you I’ve posted a before and after snap. It’s like alchemy, changing a poor quality material into black gold.
I already bought that Bokashi Bin. At the moment I’m using it for 2 weeks and it seems to be that te result is great! I doesn’t smell, and the compost is really good for my garden. Since the purchase of the Bukashi, my way of life is a little bit changed. I more concerned with sustainability and ecological things. Great!