There are many advantages related to living in the city, in a high rise condominium, or in a high rise apartment close to the center of town.  With a little imagination you can create your own paradise on a rooftop, courtyard, or balcony.  Bokashi fermenting is perfect for this setting.  It works so well because so little soil is needed to finish the fermenting process converting the food waste to rich soil (Visit Our Website).

If you are in an apartment or condominium and have to take the elevator to the rooftop or your high rise apartment, the thought of carrying fertilizers to the “garden” and getting the weeds out of the plantar boxes disposed of via the elevator is less than appealing.  You should consider using bokashi fermenters to build and enhance your garden paradise.

When you weed your garden, you can throw those weeds right in the fermenter along with your other food scraps and within a few weeks you will return all the useful nutrients to feed your very healthy plants.  Because the fermenting is done in your own apartment, it works all year around.

You don’t need to compost anything.  Just let it ferment.  It is 10 times faster, less polluting, and a lot less work.

What about the winter time when things are frozen you ask?  It’s not a problem.  Just place your fermented waste material in bins on the roof and then in the warmer weather when things thaw, put the fermented food waste into the soil to get all the nutrients back for your plants.  This is sustainable farming and gardening.  You can do it right in the city.

Rats and insects are attracted to composting materials because they can feed on that material that is being processed.  Fermented food waste does not have the foul odor of composting materials and does not produce gas (carbon dioxide, methane, sulfides, ammonia, etc.) or heat in its transformation of food waste to nutrients for microbes.

Vermin are not attracted to fermented food waste because it is pickled.  Because it is mildly acidic and already broken down by the microbes that do their work anaerobically, they find it repulsive (too bitter) and unappealing.  They will not dig it up or be attracted to it but your plants will love it.  If you’ve got some earth worms that are hungry, they too will find it very appealing once it is put in the soil.

Frequently people ask how to use the bokashi fermentation system in an apartment or high rise setting.  (Bokashi saves you Money ….Gets Rid of Your Garbage!)

They know that the fermented food waste must be buried in the soil to get it properly converted to rich nutrients for their plants.  It’s so easy and convenient.  It takes but a little practice and organization.  If you have friends and neighbors who want to participate, that is even better.  The rooftop garden can be a community benefit.  This is very true if everyone using the garden contributes fermented table scraps and food waste to enhance the garden.

When you ferment your food scraps in the bokashi system fermenters, you are recycling what would have been previously discarded to a landfill or compost site, to your rooftop garden.  All of your nutrients that would have been thrown away will end up enriching the soil in your rooftop or balcony garden.

Instead of disposing of the food waste in a pickup bin, put it in the fermenter.  You will no longer have smelly food waste, fruit flies, mice or rats being fed.  They are not attracted to the pickled food waste.

If you have a rooftop garden, instead of taking your wasted food scraps to the basement bin, you take it to the rooftop.  You then bury it covering it with about 8 inches of soil so that the soil microbes can have a feast.  They will within about 7 to 10 days convert all of the fermented waste material to rich nutrient soil.  And most importantly you will have soil rich in microbial diversity and numbers so that the roots of your plants can be happily fed by the microbes.

Plants in soil with high organic content and microbial diversity do very well.  They are more disease resistant, grow stronger, and provide tastier vegetables and fruits.  To do this effectively you will need a few large planter boxes.  It is perfectly okay to bury the fermented food waste in the same box over and over again making the soil better and better with each load of fermented food waste.  You can then transfer or exchange that soil with other soils in your rooftop garden to feed and benefit all of your plants.

Because the organic matter is high, and the moisture content is preserved (no heating up in the soil restoration process), the soil will require a lot less water than would be the situation if you were hauling compost to the rooftop.

With just a little planning, you will be able to build your special paradise right in the heart of the city.  You will no longer have to pay extra for fertilizers and pesticides to support that rooftop garden or balcony “farm”, and it really kind of nice to know the food waste is going to do some good.

Even if you don’t want to tend to the rooftop garden or balcony “farm”, others in your high rise apartment might just be thrilled to know that a neighbor will contribute to the making of high quality soil for the garden.

Getting rid of the smelly food waste, mice, rats, and flies isn’t a bad idea either.  It’s very encouraging to see a lot of people starting up their rooftop gardens.  Even restaurants are getting into the act.

Restaurant with rooftop garden opens in Ballard – SeattleTimes

Use your imagination and you will discover it isn’t that hard to transform that empty space to something rewarding and beautiful.