Bokashi bin

We were gifted a Bokashi bin http://www.bokashi.com.au/ by some friends.  The sales pitch is that their great for apartments.  We're not so convinced.

Firstly, you still need somewhere to bury the compacted waste once it is full.  Unlike worm farms, which break down the waste into soil, the Bokashi bin only ferments and compacts the waste.  We did this once or twice into our larger pots, but then ran out of places.  You also can't compost the waste - it must be buried (as my partner's parents discovered the hard way!)

Secondly, the fermenting waste produces a stream of potent fertiliser that must be emptied pretty much every day.  If you don't it will stink up the place.  As it is so potent, it must be diluted with water, so you'll always have more output than you can use in a small garden like ours.  Or you have to tip it down the sink which kind of defeats the purpose (and in our case was very stinky...)

The other thing we found is that if you didn't use the "official" Bokashi (from the link above) we had problems with the smell.

So while we love the concept, we wouldn't recommend it for apartments.

Recycled water

Our apartment has really bad hot water pressure, so we save the water coming out of the tap while the water heats up to put on the garden (and for the washing machine).

We rarely have to use water direct from the tap to maintain the garden.  

What we have growing

So far we have:

• Pineapple
• Garlic chives
• Leeks
• Aloevera
• Sweet potato
• Chillis
• Oranges
• Mystery plant #2 ;)

Our balcony is only 7m2 (approx. 5m x 2m) and we get a lot of joy out of the variety of plants we have.  Most of the plants are very easy to maintain - and we're definitely looking forward a pina colada night when the pineapple ripens!