Our latest guest blog come to us from Rhys Taylor, National Coordinator of the Sustainable Living Programme, with some information on how he uses compost to keep his garden fertile.
In my Geraldine garden, I have to come to terms with the realities of the extremes of Canterbury weather, such as longer summer droughts, deeper winter snows and, for an extra challenge, possum raids on the crops.
As National Coordinator of the Sustainable Living Programme, I'm deeply involved in environmental education of everyday kiwis, but it’s often from the clean comfort of an office desk. Out in my garden, it gets real.
Along with my partner, Anne, we are part-time managers of a productive vegetable garden, a small orchard of heritage fruit trees, chestnuts and a newly-planted soft fruit garden, plus several hectares of native bush restoration. If I ever retire from my day job, there is probably a full time role waiting for me on this land, but the garden is already very productive, contributing half of our household's fresh foods over the year, all spray-free.
Part of the reason our garden remains so productive is the fact we are committed to making our own compost. No organic 'waste' leaves our property, either from the garden or the house. All our prunings and vegetable stalks are slow-composted in regularly-turned heaps. These are also mixed with grass (for nitrogen balance) within metre-wide wooden slat boxes. We have to water the compost to keep it wet enough to keep working in summer, and cover it with cardboard insulation in winter, but it makes a coarse but useful soil conditioner. The plants and vegetables love it!
Our kitchen peelings and scraps are handled in airtight Bokashi buckets, in which a sprinkling of EM bran is added, to create a process of controlled fermentation. After a few weeks, a sweet-smelling Bokashi bucket-full can be buried under soil in a trench, into whichever garden bed is being prepared for the next crop. This system puts nitrogen, phosphates and micro-nutrients back into the soil. Bokashi buckets are an easy and odorless way of dealing with kitchen scraps. They’re also great for small houses and apartments where you don’t have much space.
Our aim is to keep nutrients moving to and from the garden, rather than sending useful stuff 'away' as if it was waste. It’s a principle that can be used in smaller city gardens too, provided the green desert of lawns does not take over. Anyone with land by their home that's not buried under concrete or tar-seal could grow some favourite foods and also make Bokashi or traditional compost at home.
Through our Christchurch Sustainable Living courses, I know of one young householder who demolished an old garage, broke up the concrete and mulched that spot for several years to turn it back into a garden. That's greening the city for you!
There is more information about composting and organic gardening available on the Sustainable Living website. There is also some great information on our upcoming courses for 2009!
We hope you’ve found Rhys' article useful. Keep an eye on the site for more interesting articles by him. We’d also love to hear your ideas about making or using compost.
Comments
Thanks for that inspiring story, Rhys. It makes me very envious of all those people who own their little patch of paradise, and don't have to contend with unsympathetic landlords when trying to establish gardens!
Our landlords have put a lot of effort into creating their little desert of concrete and lawns, and don't want us messing it up by digging up some grass and replacing it with a vegetable patch!
I'm off to the Sustainable Living website right now, to see what other tips I can pick up to help me live more sustainably.
Submitted by Lindis on 29 January 2009 11:39:33
By the way, I would love to know more about the people's Bokashi experiences. I have had a worm farm for many years and before that a 'conventional' compost heap, so I have never felt the need to establish a bokashi system (although I have seen them in use and often recommend them to people who live in apartments and don't have room for other compost solutions).
Does anyone have tips, hints or warnings about bokashi composting? For example how to store the 'starter' or how to make it last longer? What are the best containers to use (especially if you want to re-use a container rather than buying a specialised one)?
Thanks!
Submitted by Lindis on 29 January 2009 11:48:29
Thanks for your comments Lindis. Rhys suggests you take a look at the Christchurch City Council website for information about EM Bokashi, as well the the NZ Nature Farming website.
Submitted by Andrew on 29 January 2009 15:29:52
Thanks Andrew. Those are both very interesting and useful websites. I had no idea the micro-organisms could be used for so many different purposes - who would have thought they would benefit a septic tank or help clean household drains?!
Over the summer I set up a Bokashi system for composting scraps in my little hut in the bush. The place isn't suitable for a worm farm because it's only occupied for a few weeks a year, and it's not suitable for outdoor compost because we don't want to encourage rats or possums to come foraging around. Until now we have brought all the food scraps back to the city for disposal, but as you can imagine that's a bit of a logistical nightmare when you've been storing scraps for a week or so in the summer heat. Eeeww!
Anyway, this time I installed a Bokashi bucket. I don't know yet whether it has been a success - I'm sure I will find out on my next visit. The hut gets used by a few different people (all of whom are committed to sustainable living) so I have left instructions on the lid of the bucket and I hope they find it as simple to use as it seems.
I will be sure to come back here and let everyone know how my experiment turns out - whether the results are good or bad!
Submitted by Lindis on 1 February 2009 18:54:26
Hi Lindis,
in Wellington, bokashi bins and EM bran are sold through Commonsense Organics, so I suspect that Organics shops in Auckland may do the same - I suggest Harvest Wholefoods in Grey Lynn, or Huckleberry Farms in Mt Eden, whom I have personally visited, but I'm sure the phone book would show others if those aren't convenient to your home location.
The bokashi bucket at the bush bach sounds like a really good idea!
I'm rebuilding a disused part of the bank on our rented property, with layers of slow-decomposing garden waste filling in around the existing trees. There has at some point been terracing and gardens down the bank, but in the distant past.
Mulching and making compost spreads around and between the trees is reclaiming the bank from weed plants, as well, and it'll be interesting to see how it pans out by next winter, when I'll have been working this plan for 12 months!
LOLZ, my landlady is not that fussed about the continuance of the concrete or the lawn, and has assented to having it dug up for a veggie garden if we want to put the effort in.
[we also have a patch of concrete on one path that is attempting to break free of its' own accord & head downhill ...] :-)
Submitted by katie on 3 February 2009 11:56:53
Thanks for your tips, katie. Harvest Wholefoods is quite close to me. I must remember to ask them about Bokashi systems next time I'm there. I also understand the Eco Store in Freemans Bay has stock of the EM bran - it's right next door to my favourite supermarket, so I must take a look there as well.
It sounds like a very satisfying project you have going there. What kind of trees are benefitting from your mulching and composting on the bank? I bet the trees think all their Christmases have come at once!
Submitted by Lindis on 5 February 2009 11:28:08
You are doing really great. I think you have a lot of skills and experience in composting.Canterbury weather is really strange and its really difficult to handle things there. Nice to know your successful story with bokashi system. Composter
Submitted by uriel on 2 February 2010 01:16:55