Weekend Gardener 13 COMPOSTING E VERY day we produce waste as human beings. This isn’t a new phenomenon, just a little amplified with mass consumption and population growth. As gardeners, we are constantly looking to improve our soils. We do this with a myriad of options, from making compost, green manures and having worm farms. We might buy in compost from time to time, along with other products such as blood and bone, sheep pellets, other fertilisers or some manure from a local roadside stall. Originating in Japan, Bokashi buckets are sold and used all over the world. In New Zealand, we have Neville Burt, of ZingBokashi NZ Ltd, to thank for developing this low-cost home composting solution. Bokashi buckets are a composting system that only uses your leftover food scraps. This includes peelings, after-dinner scrapings, tea bags, coffee grinds, raw/cooked meat and fish – bones ‘n’ all. The secret to this system is in the Bokashi bran. The bran is inoculated with effective microrganisms, consisting of about 70 different bacteria that can’t wait to get to work on your food scraps. I like to call the Bokashi bran “the magic powder” – all those bacteria working at a microscopic level, it’s magic. Very simply, this is what you do: 1. Collect your daily food scraps in an ice cream container or caddy of some sort. 2. Once a day, open your bucket, put in the food scraps, sprinkle a large pinch of the magic powder. Close lid. 3. Repeat step 1 every day. As the bucket fills, use a potato masher or something similar to push down and compact the scraps. Don’t be tempted to open the bucket every time you eat an apple or have a fresh tea bag. This system doesn’t like fresh air; the bacteria are working anaerobically. 4. When the bucket is full, give an extra sprinkle of the magic powder. Put it in a warm place and leave for two weeks. Remember to take off the liquid in the bottom bucket every few days (refer to section on liquid uses). When 10 to 14 days are up, here are the options: 1. Dig a hole about the size of the bucket, empty contents into the hole, chop in the soil sides and cover with 10cm of soil. 2. In the middle of winter, we can be less enthusiastic about digging in the garden and sometimes the ground is frozen solid. Create a hole in your compost pile, empty contents into it and cover with 10cm of soil. 3. Glass/tunnel houses are a great place to dig in your bucket contents all winter long. This is a great way to fertilise and freshen up that hungry soil ready for spring. 4. Another winter option includes using a black/green compost bin. Empty bucket and fill with equal parts carbon (sawdust/straw/leaves/ dry grass). Continue until full. Use when contents have composted. Ideally, you buy two Bokashi units so when one is sitting maturing, you always have another one to fill. After a couple of weeks, when you open up that first full bucket, don’t expect to see beautiful compost. This is stage one of the Bokashi composting process. The bacteria are busy at work. It is almost as if the contents of the bucket have stopped in time. They’re kind of pickled with a yellow tinge. You may see some fine white strands (mycorrhizal fungi) – this is all good. A common problem I come across is complaints that nothing happened in the bucket: “It didn’t turn into compost”. The food scraps turn into compost in the ground over a period of about two weeks. You are burying the “compost-to-be” where you want it. You’re not going to go to the effort of digging it up and using it elsewhere. So, what’s all the fuss, I hear you ask. It’s this introduction of all the microrganisms that is the key to gardening success. Every time you dig a bucket in, not only are you adding organic matter you are adding diverse bacterial life into your soil. Healthy soil equals healthy plants. This system isn’t for everyone. If you’re already composting your food scraps successfully, this isn’t necessarily for you. I have friends to whom I give empty buckets; they happily drop the full buckets to my house. Some even want to dig the hole. Having used a compost bin all winter, here is the finished biologically rich compost. PHOTO: NEVILLE BURT Ben Elms Ben Elms provides a how-to guide.