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Steeped Compost Tea

Steeped Compost Tea

Compost in any form is a plant's idea of gourmet health food. Made into tea, it's the ideal liquid fertilizer, especially for young plants. Compost tea helps plants grow stronger and more productive and, evidence suggests, can protect against disease. The tea can be sprayed on the plants or used instead of water for a soil drench. I'm making compost tea the inexpensive and simple way, make sure you're using non-chlorinated water.

1- Empty about a cup and a half of mature compost into an old sock. 2- tie the sock. 3- toss it in a bucket of water, here I am recycling an Rawdatain plastic water gallon. 4- stir the mixture 5- keep stirring it as often as you can for a couple of days, stirring allows oxygen to enter the mixture in order for aerobic bacteria to do their job. Update:  Here is the compost tea two days later:

It smells a little sweet and earthy, no bad smell at all!

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Sifting Compost

Sifting Compost

My garden beds are almost ready to be planted out, this is why its time to collect finished compost. Not all my compost is finished, the reason behind that, is that I was adding new materials over finished compost. This is why I'm using a sifter to screen out the unfinished parts. The sifter can be found in Co ops for under two dinars.  Sifting compost is a lot of work, but the end result is worth it. I got this fine, crumbly, clean, and attractive looking compost.  This compost took under 3 months to transform from grass clippings, orange peels, cardboard, melon rinds, and more, to this rich dark magic fertilizer and mulch. Sifting compost is done by pushing the compost through the holes or by shaking the sifter repeatedly. Make sure the container under the sifter is larger in size; to collect everything, because your compost is very valuable . I used a plastic basin. Collect and toss the unfinished compost (left in the sifter) in your compost bins for another round of composting. Can you believe this entire process took under three months!
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What's Brewing

What's Brewing

After brewing coffee, coffee grounds are often tossed into the trash bin. Most people regard the group of squeezed coffee beans as worthless items. Coffee grounds are a fabulous source of organic matter right at your fingertips. In compost jargon, coffee grounds are a "green," meaning an item that is rich in nitrogen (yes, I know coffee grounds are brown. In your compost, they're green. Trust me.) Coffee grounds are approximately 1.45% nitrogen. They also contain magnesium, calcium, potassium, and other trace minerals. [/caption] You can put the nitrogen rich grounds in your compost bin, or you can add it directly to your garden. The acidity of the grounds when placed on the surface of soil repels insects and pests so it kind of acts like an insecticidal mulch. The best thing about these rich coffee grounds is that they are absolutely free. If you don't ask for them, they're probably going to end up in the coffee shop's trash bags, making them heavier to carry after a long day. So you're kind of doing them a favor. I was ordering coffee from Caribou Coffee at Qurtuba co op, and when I asked for their coffee grounds, they happily emptied their machines and gave me their grounds of the day. You can ask for grounds anywhere fresh coffee is brewed. Gardeners all over the world swear by Starbucks' grounds, I'll be trying them soon.
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