Hilde Alden

I wanted to share my recipe for compost tea, which I credit with eliminating transplant shock. I use it whenever I transplant and my plants hit the ground running.

Barrel of rainwater
Armload of stinging nettles
Armload of comfrey leaves
Shovel- full of very fresh manure

Age two days, strain, add to water about 2:1 (more water). When I transplant seedlings or perennials, I dig the hole and fill it with the tea half-strength, then place the seedling directly in the water, then pack the soil around. They love it! I have absolutely no transplant shock with this method. I go a little easier on the amount when transplanting dry-loving plants. But everybody seems to love it.

Yes, I completely agree, it is fermenting, not composting!

Also, I dont' usually use bokashi, I use straight expanded EM in the sprayer, and I stretch my EM by expanding it on itself for several months. I spray a heavy dose of EM every couple of inches of packed food. This works very well, in terms of how the food scraps are fermented, though is less elegant than bokashi.

You're looking for a sour-pungent smell, maybe slightly alcoholic but never sceptic. To me, it always smells somewhat like kimchi. My understanding is that for optimal use, you use the compost after only two weeks fermenting in the bucket. I usually store my foodscraps, then assemble garden waste, etc, enough to fill a bucket, layer it with the bokashi and set the bucket to ferment all in one go, then take it out and bury it in my garden in exactly two weeks.

My understanding of this type of composting (which I have used to spectacular result) is that you don't need to see it looking broken down; after two weeks of composting, you can bury the compost into your beds to amend the soil. it won't look like ready soil, but it is fermented to a degree that it operates very differently from regular compost. I have seen my soil go from hard-packed clay to fluffy soil growing giant potatoes with one application of this method. I dig the bokashi into the soil two weeks before planting. I have used this for perennial and annual beds, and also for sandy and clay beds. In both cases, the soil receives an incredible health benefit. the reason you want to wait two weeks before planting (after digging in the compost) is that there is come acidifying effect, but it resolves itself.

It may be that none of this sounds correct to the scientists and technicians on this board, but this is what I was told by my bokashi-dealer and it has worked amazingly well for me.

For the moisture problem: yes, I use a two-layer bucket system with holes punched into the top bucket, and a drainage spigot- and I feed my beds with the compost liquid drained off.

Effective Microbes (EM) have been a miracle in my garden system. The most impressive use was conditioning my clay soil. I did a special compost bucket preparation with the EM, then buried it in the clay soil. It went from soil that refused to let anything grow, to growing giant potatoes-Potatoes!-, after one treatment. I love compost teas, but I don't know another preparation that can condition clay soil like that.

I also use EM to clean everything. I have a diaper-free baby and the EM has saved my furniture. Those microbes just expand to eat all the pee smells.

I have been keeping my mother culture going for about a year and a half, but now I think it's time to by a new mother culture. I brew it on molasses, according to instructions from the woman who sold me the EM.

I am working on the food forest design for our new farm in Northwest Washington state. We have a nice slope which would, in classic permaculture design, call for a swale running across it. The question is, do we need a swale in our wet wet climate? Does anyone have experience with the benefits of this in an area which is not at all wanting for rain?

The main long stretch of my large garden runs along the lane and is subject to prevailing winds and unsightly traffic. I have planted small shrubs all along the lane but they are very small plants now and it will be some years before they will grow into an effective wind/view break. Also, they need protection from deer in the form of attractive browsing plants.
Initially i had planned to grow Jerusalem artichoke in a strip next to (but not shading) the shrubs, as J.A is a good browse distraction for deer, provides food, grows vigorously and early in the year, and self seeds. However, I have gotten a great deal of warning that jersulam artichoke is too successful (zone 7/8, pacific northwest) and will take over the area and be impossible to get out!
So I am looking for plants that will have the same properties as JA, without the problem. Any ideas?