Showing posts with label Compost Tea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Compost Tea. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Giant Hydrangeas - was it the compost tea?


This fall my Annabelle Hydrangeas are bigger and better than ever. I wondered how they managed to get so big and if it was the "special" fertilizer I used or the compost tea? I am still making compost but the days are so cool I am not making tea any more. The Sustainable Soil Solutions fertilizer was only applied once so I am not sure if that had any special effect. With the cracks in the soil as it dries out this fall I am also wondering about adding more calcium this fall. Research shows that cracks are often caused by a deficiency such as Calcium and that needs to be sprayed onto the soil instead of the plants so I might do that now. Many of us deal with poor soils and cracks form when the clays shrink. If it is a problem a fertilizer can solve then gardeners need to know.

Meanwhile don't forget to water - it is fall but micro-organisms in the soil are still working and probably need the moisture to do their life's work.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Compost Tea - Details this Friday in the Calgary Herald

It seems like a never-ending topic but it is time to fertilize again and - as usual- I have chosen the organic route. This year I tried out my new compost tea maker (a Growing Solutions product purchased last fall in Oregon). Of course I used my own home-made worm castings for the compost component. They of course came from my can-o-worms worm bin... the garbage feeding these worms came .... okay you get the picture - this isn't just fertilizer - this is slow food for plants.

My friend asked why I do it. Why do I make tea when everyone else just opens a package. Well I make bread too and soup from home-made stock. Maybe I am weird but I want to try new and innovative things from scratch. (And this is not my first commercial tea maker - I had a Soil Soup unit a few years back).

So- after 24 hours and a trip to home depo to buy a new sprayer and figure out how to set it up and how to strain my tea I am the proud owner of too much tea. But- heh- I did notice a small change in the powdery mildew on my Dahlias today- Coincidence?

Check out the full article this Friday in the Calgary Herald.