Plant & Grow‎ > ‎

Gardening and Compost Tea Brewing

This is the basic down to dirt aspect of our goal to improve lives by giving individuals tools to provide for themselves with healthy, low cost food choices while benefiting the environment at the same time. Here you will learn how to turn a few square feet of dirt into a bountiful garden for your family or community. Whether it is a patch of grass you don't like mowing or a vacant lot in your neighborhood, this land can be made into productive space. About 80 percent of energy used in the U.S. food system goes to processing, packaging, transporting, storing, and preparing food. Produce in the U.S. travels, on average, 1700 miles from farm to consumer. Carrying a tomato in from your backyard = 0 food miles and a better environment. Learn how to garden without expensive fertilizers and harmful pesticides. Benefit from fresher, better-tasting, and more nutritious food.

Organic Gardening Demo: We recommend putting down three layers of newspaper or cardboard first to keep out weeds!

YouTube Video

    

YouTube Video

Compost Tea

Basic Brewing Compost Tea Recipe

1. Position container out of direct sunlight and fill it with non-chlorinated water. If you have to use tap water let it aerate for 24 hours to evaporate the chlorine.                              

                               
2. Add molasses to the water
3. Fill a mesh bag (old pantyhose) with compost to keep it contained.
4. Position air stone from air pump below the submerged mesh bag of compost and turn it on.
5. Let the compost tea brew for 16-24 hours. Microorganism growth is now at its peak.
6. Distribute all the tea within 7 hours. Remember to dilute.

Material ratios: 16 parts water, 1 part molasses, 4 parts compost

Note: The tea should smell sweet after 16 hours. If it smells bad something went wrong. Discard and try again.

For research on compost tea read www.rodaleinstitute.org/200441/sayre

 

 

Enthusiastic young gardeners from the Brooksville Gardens Public Housing Subdivision get a head start on the planting season. Trinity Presbyterian Church will provide a garden spot for them. The young gardeners made small compostable planters from recycled newspaper to plant their herb and vegetable seeds. 

February 10, 2010 

 

Sign in|Recent Site Activity|Report Abuse|Print Page|Remove Access|Powered By Google Sites