Cousin comes for a visit...

My favourite cousin, Lorelie came to visit yesterday. She has recently taken a course at the Gaia College up island, and came to share some of her new-found knowledge with me. I learned so much! It was awesome. She brought me some Plant Extract Tea, so we could try it on some of my veggies as a foliar spray, see if we could perk some of my squash and cucumbers up. Not a joke... we just did it yesterday, and already I see a few new green leaves coming up... they have been sickly and not very healthy this year so far, and I'm convinced that it's because I have new soil, and it doesn't have any organic matter in it yet.

To make plant extract tea:
Fill a 5 gallon pail 3/4 full of nettles, comfrey or horsetail.
Fill rest of bucket with clean water (no chlorine in it) Lucky I'm on a well!
cover with a lid, and let ferment for 10-14 days.

At the end, it really stinks, but you mix 1 cup of tea with 10 cups water, and spray it on your plants.

I am also making manure tea - just dumped a bunch of horse poo in a garbage can, filled with water, and am mixing a cup of that with a bunch of water to fill a watering can (not very scientific!) and watering my plants with it - I am trying to start to do that every 10 days or so.

She also told me about adding ocean water to compost - adds all the minerals you need for your garden. I plan on making a trip down to the ocean very, very soon to get some!

EM or Effective Micro organisms

I have heard of this before from another friend, but Lorelie really put it into perspective for me. I am ordering some as soon as I get paid.  You can get it from http://www.gardenerspantry.ca/  He will ship it to wherever you live.

Mycrroizal Fungi.... (am certain I didn't spell that correctly...!)

To use when seeding or transplanting. Combines with roots of plants for a symbiotic relationship.

The amazing thing is you should never, ever use even 'organic' fertilizers in your garden (commercially made stuff that is). What she was taught was to improve and make the soil healthy, then your plants will be healthy, and be better able to fight off fungus and bugs and disease. Makes sense, and I've heard that before, but wasn't sure how to go about it. Now I have the tools. I have already started my Plant Tea Extract, and it will be ready in about 9 days, and can't wait to see how things start to grow, grow, grow!

She told me some tips on making a wormfarm, which I've tried before and failed at. This way makes more sense to me... I think I will try it again soon, so I can get that worm poo growing;-) I won't describe it now... it is getting late, and I am too tired.

It's been threatening rain for a week, but we haven't actually got more than a drop or two. We need it, BAD! Now, I just checked the weather station, and it's supposed to get super hot this coming week. I've been busy all week putting hay and mulch on almost all the beds, and hope to have that finished tomorrow. The less pressure I put on the well, the better. Even if it keeps the moisture locked in the beds for a few extra days between waterings, it will be a great help. I may work on putting an extra layer on, just in case...