Raising the Bed

It’s the beginning of fall and I’m building a new raised bed garden.  Its dimensions are 8’ x 8‘ and the four walls are around 10 inches high.  The soil is under development in a lasagna style.  This garden is in the process of development using organic sources such as fallen tree leaves, grass clippings, woodchips, pine straw from trees, garden leftovers, wheat straw, food scraps, paper towels, and on and on. My composting begins in the kitchen with scraps and leftovers from meals. Bokashi (a part of Korean National Farming) is an excellent additive to the composting process indoors or outdoors. Bokashi is made from rice bran and enriched with microorganisms. The rice bran feeds microorganisms that accelerate composting, while helping to reduce odors from decay. Bokashi is also an excellent amendment to seed starting mixtures since rice bran is an excellent organic aerator and beneficial microorganisms feed developing plants. Bokashi speeds up the breakdown of kitchen scraps to yield finished compost and compost tea. Compost tea is an excellent fertilizer that is ready for use in the garden, once this liquid is sufficiently diluted with water.  

Each time I place the raw compost from my kitchen in the raised bed garden I throw some straw or pine shavings or grass clipping or leaves on top to keep pests from getting to the raw compost material. My plan is to finish off this garden with some topsoil before planting into it in the spring (Apiary Gardens, 9/24).