Colorado Clay Soil Problem
Eva asked 4 years ago
Hi,
I have clay soil in our entire backyard. Do you NOT recommend digging a hole and putting the broken down bokashi food scraps directly into the clay for the next two weeks? I read in another post that clay soil may be considered “dead.” My other option is to build a planter bed and fill that with store bought soil and put the soil in there first. If I can’t put it into the hole, any other suggestions or advice would be much appreciated? Thank you!
Nicki Casley Staff answered 4 years ago
Hi,
Thanks for the question. Bokashi compost is a fantastic way of bringing the essential life back to any soil (even clay). You can dig a hole and bury the bokashi directly in your clay. As you say, there is very little (if any) life in poor quality clay soil so it will take some time for the bokashi to break down. But it will break down eventually, and it will attract life back to the soil. Keep adding the bokashi pre-compost to different areas of your garden and over time you will see a phenomenal improvement in your soil. If you are able to, then add a bit of better quality soil (a neighbor’s topsoil or regular compost) to the hole when you bury the bokashi. This will help introduce some of the bugs and grubs you need to make a healthy soil. If you don’t have access to any better quality soil, don’t worry, the soil life will come.
If you want to be able to start growing in your garden sooner, then planters with store bought soil will likely see quicker results. Though, remember, most of the store bought composts and soils have been sterilized before being bagged. That means that all of the essential life has been killed and the bagged compost is fairly ‘dead’ itself.
Happy composting 🙂