Ordinary Life Magic (Too.)

Of course we turn lots of compost into the gardens, but what to do for houseplants?

Aah - tea, of course!

For tea you’ll need greens (nitrogen) and browns (carbons).

Greens are cut grass, the super yummy kitchen scraps that sit on your kitchen counter waiting to be taken out to the compost heap (no cooked foods or meats, of course), weeds, coffee grounds, eggshells, and rinsed seaweed.

Browns are dead flowers, dead leaves, sticks and twigs (cut small is better), sawdust, wood ash, and rinsed and crushed shells.

You’ll want the ratio to be 60-75% of green to 25-40% carbon.  Too many greens and you’ll get potent ammonia and slimy water, and too many carbons and your materials won’t decompose.

Put them loosely in any size bucket you like – we’re using a plastic one gallon jar -

add water to cover

and shake or stir it every day for a week.

When your week is up, your tea should be ready!

Strain it (strain it with cheesecloth if you are going to be using the tea in a sprayer).

The undilluted tea can be high enough in nitrogen to burn your plants, so dilute it 10-1 with water for watering your houseplants.

This should make it an acceptable solution for regular watering.

Happy rotting!  :)