Burying Bokashi the Easy Way

I love fermenting my food scraps and using the bokashi tea on my plants and lawn. The one challenge I was running into, however, was burying the bokashi after it had fermented for the appropriate amount of time.

Digging Up the Lawn

The first few times I buried my bokashi I buried them in containers for my container garden. After the container garden was set up I realized I had to bury the bokashi in the lawn. I found an appropriate spot, buried the bokashi, covered it up and put grass/clover seed over the exposed dirt.

The next time I had to bury bokashi I deposited it in a different location and covered it with grass/clover seed. By the third time, I realized this was a never-ending scenario. I didn’t want to continually dig up the lawn and cover it with seed. Not only that, who wants to dig up a lawn when the temperatures hit 90 degrees with humidity to match?

Simple Solution

I decided to bury the bokashi in a trashcan. Here’s what I did. I took one of the trashcans I used to for burying bokashi during the winter and drilled holes in the bottom and about ¼ of the way up the sides of the container.

I then dug a hole on the side of the house just deep enough to sink ¼ of the trash can below ground level.

I sprinkled some dirt on the bottom and then dumped the contents of one 5-gallon bokashi container. As is the procedure when burying bokashi, I mixed the bokashi with dirt and then covered the mixture with a layer of dirt.

The bokashi and dirt mixture barely put a dent in the trash can. The trash can was about ¼ filled.

I have plenty room to dump several more gallons of fermented bokashi (I’ve got 3 5-gallon buckets ready to go). By using the trash can I can easily add bokashi and dirt without having to constantly dig up the yard.

The holes in the can will allow the bokashi tea to seep out and fertilize the local area. It also allows the worms and beneficial bugs access to the fermented food scraps. As the food decomposes, it will settle and free up space for me to add more scraps. Once the trashcan is filled to the brim, I’ll let it sit for a while as I begin to fill the second trash can that I buried on the other side of the house.

Using can number 2 gives can number 1 enough time to convert the food scraps into nutrient-rich dirt that I can use on my plants and lawn. This method is so much easier than constantly digging holes in the lawn.

No More Bottle Neck

My 5-gallon fermented bokashi scraps started backing up. I had several cans to bury but we went through a wet spell where we had torrential rain every day. Who wants to dig muddy holes? Not me, so I had to wait for the weather to let up. With my newly buried cans, no more waiting to dig. All I have to do is dump and mix.

It will be interesting to observe the grass growth pattern in the area surrounding the bokashi cans. It is my belief that the grass near the bokashi cans will be greener, grow faster and look healthier than grass further away from the cans. Only time will prove me right or wrong. I love experiments.