Apartment living, like it or not, puts some limits on growing our own food. Many of us are making our way with a container garden (we harvested our very first salad last night!), but there's often one important thing missing: hearty compost to enrich the soil.
So until the BF can be talked into vermicomposting, there is one great alternative to turn to: compost tea.
Compost tea is just that: compost that has been brewed in water. It's like a superfood smoothie for plants, and can be used to either treat the soil (replacing lost nutrients, enhancing the good bacteria), or as a fungicide/natural pesticide when sprayed on the leaves.
We picked some up at a local nursery, and their tea includes compost from a few different sources (worm castings, etc.). But if you do have your own compost heap, brewing your own tea is recommended as a super-powered supplement to using compost with your soil. Check out this great How-To from Fine Gardening to learn more about making your own compost home brew.
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if you don't have space for (or the desire for pests associated with) a compost heap, but can fit this little gem in somewhere (Envirocycle Composter - Compost Tumbler), it makes its own compost tea to help fertilize your flowers, etc.
I've been coveting it for almost a year now & I'm planning on finally buying one next month to feed my freshly planted container vegetable garden on my balcony.
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