We are extremely proud of the 3 papaya trees growing at the end of the Clarion Community Garden. Not only because they are healthy and happy, but because of the work that went into building the soil in which they are growing.
The soil under our community garden is old building sand. We grow most things in the planter beds and pots, but started digging bokashi into this corner of the garden early last academic year with the aim of building healthy, fertile soil in the ground.
One month after burying our first bucket of bokashi, we noticed that the buried bokashi smelt exactly the same as when it was dug in, and had not broken down and started to form black soil. It seemed to have been preserved, suggesting a high level of salt content. Determined to build soil, we added bokashi bran and old soil in the hope that additional microbes would kick start the decomposition process.
It was a magical moment when we realized that this had worked! Almost 100kg of bokashi later, we felt that the soil was ready for our papaya plants that had grown out of food waste buried in one of our families’ gardens.
Since planting the trees, they have been thriving and just last week we noticed the beginning of a flower. We will continue to nourish them with our compost and organic fertilizers. Hopefully we can nurture these trees for a long time to come.
Well done team. Great work! Shows that diligence and perseverance really pays off.