Friday, June 3, 2011

Well There's Good News & Bad News

Good News First...

I made "Compost Tea"!

I expect that I'll dial in the process in the future, but for a first attempt I think it went well.

So, First I watched a bunch of you tube videos about making the tea and then I totally modified everything to fit with what I already had.



Here's MBC.
I have it divided in half now because it makes compost much faster this way.





 I sift it through this bucket, that my sweet and handsome husband Chris, made for me.



I end up with this. It's beautiful compost and I get a great upper body workout from shaking it all through the sifter bucket. I'm convinced that I'll soon have American Gladiator Girl Arms.
pretty pretty pretty nice...
perfection

Meanwhile, in another corner of the backyard, I'd been saving rainwater in a rubber-made container.
 This was necessary because our tap water has chloramine in it. Chloramine will kill the microorganisms that you're trying to grow and it won't "gas off" like regular chlorine, yuck
I could have used tap water and just treated it with aquarium tap water dechlorination drops, but I didn't. Although, I do have them. I decided that the rainwater would be better because well, my plants just love rainwater! 

So, I put a little compost in the leg of a pair of pantyhose that had a run in them and hung it in the container along with a water pump.


Now, I know you're supposed to use an air stone to keep the tea aerobic, but I didn't have one. I had a pump. So, oh well!

I say "Get Over It" to the Tea Nazis!





 Later, I decided to hang it from a fence post.

 I let this sit for like 12 hours then removed the Tea bag and added watermelon juice. They reccomended molasses, but - again - that is not what I had.

10 hours later I sprayed it on everything!

 This...

 and this...


and these...



And this stuff too.








Now for the Bad News...

I found some Squash Bugs and their Evil Eggs!
I ran this leaf through the garbage disposal


So, I guess it's go time.










That's right! I'm coming for you squash bugs and I don't care how bad you stink when I squish you. 

8 comments:

  1. Great post on the compost tea.
    I HATE squash bugs. I've found adults still "hiding" already too. They certainly stink when you squish them but it's worth it.
    I use duct tape rolled back on itself to pick the eggs off the plants, then unroll the tape, fold it over and SQUISH!

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  2. That's a great tip! I'll try that next time. I've been pulling the whole leaf off.

    SQUASH BUG HATERS UNITE!

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  3. I didn't know these bugs smelled bad when you killed them, but I've never seen one of these bugs so never had occasion. However, since I really am a vegetable gardener (although my vegetable beds haven't figured this out), I'm sure I'll find one of these sooner or later. And when I do, I'll wear a mask over my nose and mouth because bed smells really do bug me (no pun intended). Kudos to you for making the tea. Now I know what to do with the panty hose I haven't worn in years!

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  4. I hope that compost tea makes everything grow! I can't believe how far ahead your vegetable garden is. We finally after our third attempt have seeds sprouting here.

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  5. That is what makes OK such a fun state to garden in. Back home in Northern CA my family's gardens are barely getting started while I saw my first red(ish) tomato yesterday. BUT, I'd take the late start to be back. (sigh)

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  6. AND, I always put stuff out way too early.

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