I’ve heard it said that “gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes.” There seems to be some solid science to back up the health benefits of gardening (and to explain why gardeners might live longer as well).
Besides the obvious benefits like super-fresh produce and time spent outside, there are some less well-known benefits to gardening such as probiotics present in the soil, getting a greater amount of Vitamin D from the sun while spending time outdoors, and the scientifically proven stress relief of working in the soil. I’ve shared before how children need dirt to develop a healthy immune system and how overuse of antibacterial soaps has led to a widespread deficiency in important probiotics.
The best part is that it doesn’t matter if you have just a small container garden on your back patio or a full scale organic garden plot, you can get the benefits in just a few minutes of gardening a day.
With soaring food prices and a lack of quality food options, I’d encourage all of us to take a play from our grandparents playbook and grow a Victory Garden of some kind to help our families have access to fresh produce and to reduce our food costs each month.
Over the years, I’ve been using an inexpensive and really effective method to increase the yields of our garden without having to buy or use expensive fertilizers. It is called compost tea, and it is essential a nutrient-rich liquid infusion for your plants. It is super-simple to make and can be made with homemade or store bought organic compost.
Compost Tea for the Garden
Think of compost tea as a probiotic and multivitamin for your plants. It is a liquid extract (thus the name “tea”) made from compost and water and it contains beneficial microorganisms and nutrients that help improve plant growth and may even ward off pests and disease.
Benefits of Compost Tea
You might have seen me write about Probiotics because the soil is naturally a great source of beneficial organisms, but many people don’t realize just how diverse the bacteria in soil can be and how we can support this natural bacteria with simple measures like compost tea. In fact, this simple homemade fertilizer offers many benefits to a garden:
1. Helps Plants Grow More Quickly
Compost tea provides nutrients to the plant and to the soil, leading to more rapid growth of the plant and more robust plants that produce better yields. Over time, natural methods like compost tea also help nourish the soil so the benefits add up year after year.
2. Good Alternative to Toxic Garden Chemicals
Compost tea can help plants more effectively resist disease and pests and replace the need for toxic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. It is also a less-expensive alternative to harmful chemical based garden chemicals and won’t harm pets, wildlife or insects.
3. Microbial Protection from Disease
Just like in humans, the right balance of beneficial bacteria in and on plants can help the plants resist diseases and fungus and make them less susceptible to pests. The microorganisms in compost tea compete with these harmful microbes to give the plants an advantage against these pests.
4. Provides Nutrients and Beneficial Organisms
As I already mentioned, compost tea is essentially a probiotic for plants, providing a concentrated source of the organisms plants need for optimal growth and improving the nutrient levels and microbiome of the soil as well.
How to Make Compost Tea
Ingredients:
- 2 cups homemade, fresh compost dirt (make sure it is completely composted- it should smell pleasantly earthy) or store bought organic compost
- 1 gallon of clean, filtered water
Instructions:
- Add the water and the soil to a gallon-size bucket or jar and keep in a place out of direct heat or cold (I keep in my garage).
- Let sit for at least 5 days, stirring daily.
- Strain out the dirt and use the liquid to water the garden.
Important Notes
The measurements for this recipe don’t have to be exact and a rough 8:1 ratio of water to compost will work (or any higher ratio of compost). In fact, this can easily be made in a large five-gallon bucket and used in the garden. If you have a really large garden, it is possible to make this in a 40 or 50 gallon barrel to have enough for the whole garden at once.
Since compost is a source of many types of microorganisms, it is important to make sure that whatever compost is used has been properly composted and is not a source of pathogenic or harmful bacteria. If making your own compost, just make sure it has composted for at least a year or reached a temperature of at least 150 degrees for several days. Most organic store bought composts have been correctly composted. Check the finished compost tea before using on plants to make sure there isn’t any off odor or bubbling that would indicate harmful bacteria. I personally use compost tea earlier in the growing season when plants are establishing and taper off before harvest.
Do you grow a garden? Ever tried using compost tea to help it grow?
After separating the water from the compost to use, what do you use the leftover compost for? How do you keep the process going? Do you always start with new compost to start the process over again?
I want to try rabbit manure compost tea. Is this okay? I have rabbit pets and I want to put them to go use!
My understanding is that the most beneficial compost teas are Actively Aerated Compost Tea (AACT). The many “good guys” that we want to build up in the tea are aerobes. Anaerobes are often pathogens. So some sort of bubbling to circulate and expose the tea to oxygen and physically move micro-organisms from the compost to the tea is generally needed. Great sites to learn more are https://www.soilfoodweb.com/
and http://www.microbeorganics.com/
Why not just put the compost on the garden?
I believe the tea makes the nutrients immediately available to the plant – kind of like a liquid fertilizer. When you add compost to your garden, it has long-term benefits and positive effects on soil structure. Both are excellent practices and can be used together.
Does it make a difference if I have composted horse manure in my compost pile? I don’t want to overwhelm my garden with too much manure, as we have ready added some to the soil before planting. Thanks.
How do you use the tea once it’s made? Thank you!
What about garden smoothies, where you take your veggie scraps (potato, carrot, onion, etc. peals), put them in the blender with water and pour them on the garden? Do they work as well or do you not recommend it?
I haven’t tried that before…
So very good to be doing this for your garden. We are lacking the essential nutrients in our food due to really poor farming activities. Growing your own stuff is wonder and taste so much better. I actually also make my own and when i go to the beach, i take some seaweed and add it to my mixture. It makes a huge difference. Thank you for sharing – this was a great article to read
Oh what a great idea!
Thanks for the info! Very helpful. ?
Hello,
I could be wrong, but didn’t last year you posted something like this as an April Fools blog. Did you decide that this is now a good thing and we should eat this?
Just curious,
Emma
Compost tea has always been good for the garden, but the April Fool’s post I wrote about it originally directed readers to drink it. This post is the actual instructions on how to use it for your garden. 🙂
Oh..I feel better now :). Thank you!
What about chicken manure tea, can that be used? how do you make it?
Chicken manure must be composted very well before it can be applied to the garden because it contains too much nitrogen to be applied directly. You should compost the manure first, then follow these instructions to make compost tea.
How often should you do this?
As often as possible. But to get the most benefits from using compost tea, apply it every two weeks. You can’t overdo it.
I do mine as often as possible. You should too.
Wow! What a wonderful idea! I’ll be planting soon and just love compost and natural, organic fertilizers, which can be costly. Last summer I started composting, and this year will reap the benefits. Can’t wait to see how this improves my garden.
I have a butterfly garden so I make compost…great stuff for the garden. Will have to try out the compost tea next!
I know people that take EM diluted internally and feed it to their animals and livestock. The EM company is out of NZ, but there are several Japanese companies that sell similar concentrated solutions that you can use to compost in a sealed container to create an anaerobic bacteria solution. People spray it around their homes to kill molds, use it in their gardens to increase yields, and some even drink the stuff. I’ve also known several people who ate dirt for health.