New Gardner requests assistance/advice.

camprn wrote:

SwampCatNana wrote:Yes, but how do you actually measure 3 cu ft of peat, and 3 cu ft of vermiculite? This is what has me flummoxed!
I have read, and re-read, all the info and still don't know how to measure all this material. I'm not usually this stymied but I think my brain has decided to take a vacation without me!
Lee

My brain just can't go there. I use a red paint bucket to measure and do thirds of each. I mix in my wheel barrow, only as much as I need for the bed.

I use the trowel or garden fork to break apart the compressed peat. Break the smaller clumps by hand until it's not clumpy anymore.

quiltbea wrote:Compost tea need not be elaborate or difficult.

Take a couple of trowels of aged compost, shovel into an old sock, tie the top of the sock to the handle of a bucket or pail. Add water to the container and swish your sock around in the water. Use an old pitcher or measuring cup and add some tea around the base of your plants every week or two. A stick in the bucket to stir the tea at couple times a day when you're out checking your beds, is sufficient to add oxygen. When the water is used up, add more water to the bucket and stir well. You can use this diluted water for quite a while before you need to replenish the sock with fresh compost. As long as there is color to your water, you're getting nutrients. When the color fades a lot, empty the old contents of the sock into your compost pile and add fresh trowels of compost and repeat.