We often hear about tea being used for its many health qualities for the body, but did you know that tea can be beneficial for your home garden as well? It’s called compost tea, and here are six great gardening benefits you can gain from using it!
Okay, so the first thing you should know about compost tea is it’s not for you to drink -- it’s for your compost pile. Compost tea is known to have all the different species of beneficial bacteria, along with soluble nutrients. It’s the same beneficial bacteria and nutrients found and used in your garden’s compost. Compost tea also contains the same beneficial fungi, protozoa (beneficial predator-like microscopic organisms) and nematodes found in compost as well. You can think of compost tea as basically being one big multi-vitamin for your garden.
Here are 6 reasons to have a tea party with your garden:
#1 Improve Water Retention: Compost tea helps with holding and retaining water into the soil. In return, this can help reduce water loss as well as water waste.
#2 Enhance Plant Growth: Compost tea contains beneficial organisms that keep plants alive and well by preventing disease-causing organisms from invading the plant.
#3 Improve Soil Structure: All the nutrients and other components found within compost tea contribute to building up healthy, strong soil. The protozoa, bacteria, and fungi, nutrients, and bacteria all work together to make your garden’s soil well-structured.
#4 Better Nutrient Absorption: Compost tea ups the amount of nutrient intake for plants, by enhancing the number of nutrients in the soil.
#5 Flourish Plant Growth: By enhancing the soil and plant growth, compost tea can increase the amount of plants growing in your garden. Healthier plants and soil make a flourishing garden.
#6 Increase Plant Nutrition: Like I mentioned above, compost tea is pretty much a multivitamin for your garden. It can boost your plant nutrition by boosting the levels of nutrition for your compost and soil.
Compost tea is a great natural and organic way to enhance your garden. There are various kinds of recipes you can find for making compost tea, depending on your gardening needs. You can find most recipes in gardening books, or online. It is best to mix compost tea in with compost that is both well aged and already set.
Stay tuned for more organic home gardening tips and ideas!
