Compost Tea – Tea Time For Your Garden

If you would like a nice garden, you’ll need a bucket of water and some garbage. That simple recipe is all you need to grow healthy, beautiful plants all summer long. But before you start floating a tin can in a some water, you need to know that there is a catch. The trick to this recipe is that you have to compost your garbage first. Compost and water are the only ingredients you need to create a powerful plant supplement known as compost tea.

Compost in the garden will improve your soil which in turn will reward you with strong plants that are better able to fend off droughts and diseases. Compost improves soil structure and drainage. It can also be used as a fertilizer or a mulch and it enhances the soil’s ability to absorb water.

Compost tea provides the same benefits to a plant as compost but it doesn’t stop there. Not only can compost tea can applied to the soil around plants like regular compost, but it can also be sprayed on the leaves. When sprayed directly on the leaves, it increases the amount of nutrients available to the plant and helps fight foliar diseases. It will even increase the nutritional value and improve the taste of vegetables.

There are many different ways to make compost tea but most recipes can be summarized by saying, if you steep compost in water you get compost tea.

Using rain water is the best way to make compost tea but you can get by with tap water if rain is scarce. Tap water usually contains enough chlorine in it to kill off all of the beneficial bacteria so it’s best to let it sit for a few hours before using it.

The quickest and easiest way to make compost tea is with an old sock filled with compost. Throw it in a bucket and let it sit for a day and you’ve just made compost tea. Sure there are more complicated ways to make the tea more effective such as using air stones or fish tank bubblers to feed the mixture enough oxygen but the old sock in a bucket method works just fine. Some people add molasses to the mix and there are many other secret home recipes. But you’ll do fine by using a sock filled with compost and a bucket of water. And actually the sock is optional if you have no plans on using a sprayer.

When applying compost tea with a sprayer you have to worry about clogs. Attach some cheese cloth or a piece of panty hose to the sprayer’s intake with some rubber bands and you should be fine.

If you need more than a few buckets of tea, then an old fish tank or a plastic storage bin would make a great container for brewing compost tea.

After you’ve brewed a few batches and are happy with the results why not try aerated compost tea? You’ll need to feed your mixture a constant supply of oxygen so a bubbler or air stones will be required. You need to keep it aerated so it doesn’t grow any harmful pathogens. Some popular ingredients to add to bubbling compost tea are alfalfa, fish emulsion, powdered seaweed, corn meal, green sand and more. Don’t use manure. Manure tea shouldn’t be used as a foliar spray especially if you’re growing vegetables and who wants manure floating around in their bucket anyway.

Ask a weekend gardener about compost and chances are they’ll tell you it’s powerful stuff with a lot of uses. But ask a serious gardener about compost and they’ll probably tell you that it’s the most important ingredient there is when making compost tea.

About the Author

Anthony Tripodi is the webmaster of WatchItRot.com. For more information about Compost Tea, visit http://www.watchitrot.com

DIY Earring Holder using Everyday Materials

The History of Valentine’s Past: and a New Bra for Her

The bra’s purpose is twofold: part function; part fantasy. When Valentine’s Day rolls around each year, husbands and boyfriends scramble to find the perfect gift, a bra that works and is comfortable, but also one that is sexy and stylish. This year, in addition to picking out that perfect gift, guys can now recite a little Valentine’s history. It’s the ideal way to give your sweetheart more than she expected. So without further ado, a brief, romantic synopsis of Valentine’s past.

The many statues of Claudius II, emperor of Rome in 268-270 A.D., depict a stern face with corrosive features. His jaw-line has the natural strength of a sycamore tree, his brow arid and sweeping like the longest deserts, and his solving eyes, pupil-less, gaze outward, seeing everything and nothing with benign solidarity. When he died, he was confident of posterity’s reverence.

Valentine was a priest and humble servant of God. His demeanor gentle, his voice wispy and clean, it seemingly snatched the clouds of Heaven. He was handsome and performed weddings with a hand-full of serenity that united the lovers of his time. No statues mark his posterity, but his presence in modern life survives as each year the vibrant merchants of romance tug at his sleeve, hungry for a bit of heat.

The years of Claudius’ rule were tumultuous. The Roman Empire was at war with the Goths, and they needed as many soldiers they could gather. Valentine was also busy, for he was the ceremonial chief of matrimony; his days pulsed with the blushful cheer of love, and war or no war, most Roman men preferred a wife to a sword. When Claudius recognized his army’s depletion, he outlawed marriage, insisting a Roman’s duty was first to the Empire.

On the sly and with much efficiency, Valentine continued to perform marriages. Treason in Claudius’s eyes, Valentine was arrested. There was a trial, and by it’s end, Valentine was sentenced to death. While in jail, Valentine fell in love with the jailor’s daughter, a young woman whose respect for Valentine infatuated into an incarcerated courtship. The night before his death, Valentine composed a letter to his new flame, proclaiming his fire would burn throughout eternity. When he signed, he wrote, “From Your Valentine.”

A year later Claudius was dead. The Roman Empire had prevailed in the war against the Goths. Marriage was once again legal, and once again, people brought their hearts to the altar. Memory is served in history and in Rome with exacting statues of people who fought wars, people who led, people who died. In the end, the Empire fell but the statues survived. Valentine, on the other hand, was a dark commodity, a man appreciated by a portion of the population that wasn’t large enough to validate a statue. Instead he lives on in myth, through love and glory, and once a year, a greeting card and flowers from your honey.

This Valentine’s show your sweetheart that you know what she likes (the perfect bra) and that you know some history (see above). It’s a unique twist on a unique holiday.

About the Author

Michael Russell writes about a variety of subjects, including real estate, environmentalism, and modern architecture. This article discusses lingerie and the history of Valentine’s Day. To learn more about Valentine’s Day lingerie, visit Bits of Lace.

Vicky Vette in Army Uniform and Lingerie! Support the Troop

Where can I buy a Garter belt set for a tall thin big breatest women?

Hey, I am so frusterated right now I am 59.5, a size 6 and a D36. I have been looking on the internet to find a garter set to fit me but the sets come in S, M, L when I need like a L or XL in the breast and a small maybe medium in the bottom and I probably need M or large in the stockings since im tall. I was wondering does anyone know a good company or site that has nice sets like http://www.stagshop.com/gc/gc_item.exe?F=D&K=1194&R=H%2FCatalog%3ALingerie%20%26%20Men’s%20Wear%3ASexy%20Women’s%20Lingerie%3ASets&SN=0227221729741113716444&FF=H&FK=Catalog:Lingerie%20&%20Men’s%20Wear:Sexy%20Women’s%20Lingerie:Sets&Z9=0 that would fit me? It would be a great help, I have been looking around everywhere with no sucess! I came across one size fits all sets but they only go to 5′6!

try fredricks of hollywood. They make them for big breast women and tall…

fashiontv I FTV.com – Valisere lingerie Photos