Compost tea applications available for residential urban properties, is a service I have been wanting to offer for a long time.
Compost tea applications have been part of our gardens for about ten years. Mainly for our own garden, but often for a friend or two throughout the season. In the past few years I have seen more and more interest from others in the benefits of the tea.
In November of 2020, we moved to a larger location. Now I have the ability to expand the tea brewing system. The final testing stages of the distribution system are complete. The tricky part with compost tea (compared to chemical fertilizers), is that the tea is a living ecosystem of microbiology. Transporting it down the highway, and then pumping the little lifeforms through a hose, takes extra consideration. Too much turbulence or lack of oxygen, will greatly decrease the effectiveness of the tea in the soil.
Keeping the bugs out of the system and in the tea, so to speak…
Compost tea applications available
If you are interested in having an application this year check out the compost tea application page on the website. Or, contact me directly via email to set up a time to discuss your properties needs. If you want to learn more about compost tea and composting for small spaces in general, check out the compost pages on the website.
Aerating is the process in which plugs, or cores, are removed from the soil. This increases the soils air supply and can aid the plants respiratory actions. Carefully timed in the spring, just as the grasses are starting to grow roots, aerating can be very beneficial to an urban lawn. Primarily if the soil is compacted, or low in beneficial microorganisms.
Having said that, cutting cores out of the soil does deliberate damage to the root systems of the plants. If not kept in check, over-aerating or aerating too often, with big heavy machines, will have a detrimental effect on the soil. Really, aerating should be an occasional thing to relieve compaction. It can also be a means to inoculate the soil with beneficial microorganisms. Annual or semi-annual aerating is not only unnecessary, but will damage the soil in the long run.
At Eat MY Shrubs, we recommend to aerate in the early spring. Only if the soil really needs it. While the holes are open, top-dress with a good quality compost, or a compost soil mix, compost tea, or effective microorganisms.
*Special note* compost tea and effective microorganisms do not really like strong ultra violet rays. So, if going that route, best do it on a cloudy day, or late in the day. This will avoid killing everything you are adding to the soil, before they can take cover under the surface.
Power Raking
Power raking on the other hand, is not necessary and WILL damage your soil in a very short time. It is non-discriminate. The power rake tears up both dead and living plant material. By cutting, ripping, or generally disturbing living roots, it effectively kills more grass. Power raking begets more power raking. Don’t do it. If really necessary in a localized area of the lawn, a hand thatch rake can be used.
To much thatch in a lawn can be an issue as far as water and air getting to the soil. But, if there is an overgrowth of thatch in the lawn, that is telling us there is not enough microbial activity in the soil. The thatch on the soil surface, made up from dead plant material, should be broken down, eaten, and decomposed by these microbes and other small creatures. Therefore, returning all those nutrients back to the soil.
I recommend aerating in this scenario. While the holes are open, top-dress with a really good quality compost, and take every effort to ensure it gets into the holes. There are also specific microbes that you can add to your compost that especially consumes thatch. If you really wanted to go the extra step I would time it so that the final stages of cleaning up happen as a light rain starts.
Use a sprinkler that aerates the water as much as possible, and gives the water as much time in the air to allow the chlorine to escape.
If you are using a municipal water supply remember that chlorine will kill all the microorganisms in the compost.
Collect rainwater people! If for no other reason but to irrigate your property. You will be less likely to need aerating and power raking in the future
While chatting with a friend the other day, the subject of seaweed came up. Living in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains, seaweed does not come up in conversation very often! It reminded me of growing up in New Brunswick and the semi annual trip to the beach to collect seaweed for use in the garden.
More to the point of our story though.
My friend has a friend who has some seaweed become a temporary rodent restaurant. It could no longer used for its intended purpose, and rather than send it to the landfill, they figured it could be used in the garden. The question was more if it should be composted first, or added directly to the garden. When that should happen, and should it be tilled into the soil or not?
Using seaweed in the garden has many benefits actually.
Use it as a mulch
A 4-6 inch layer (10-15 cm) of seaweed will suppress unwanted plant growth, and aid the soil in retaining moisture. Slugs, snails, and other pests do not like the salty, sharp edges of seaweed. Seaweed does not dry out in the same fashion as other forms of mulch making it less of a fuel source for sparks. If you live in an area prone to dangerous fire threat conditions, seaweed may be an alternative ground cover mulch.
Feed the soil
Seaweed is full of nutrients and minerals that aid in other plant growth. Nitrogen, Magnesium, Potassium to name a few. There are also a host of micronutrients in seaweed that will become available as the ground cover decomposes. Something you do not get with bark mulch. Seaweed will also aerate the soil, and deter some fungi and diseases as it adds all those nutrients to the soil. If seaweed is added around the same time as some brown mulch, say leaf litter, the nitrogen in the seaweed is balanced by the carbon in the leaf litter.
The local variety and quantity of seaweed available will dictate how best to use seaweed in the garden. Kelp, Dulce, Rock-weed, and other forms all have different consistencies and some are better suited for mulch. Others, are more algae than vine, and are better suited for composting. The more algae varieties can still be used as mulch. They will breakdown faster, and require more volume to get the same coverage as a mulch.
Adding kelp or seaweed to your compost tea will help feed the beneficial microorganisms both in the tea, and in the soil. I use a kelp extract in the teas I brew. It is easier to find around here than the raw product. If you have actual seaweed, you can add a couple of handfuls to the tea to get a lot of the nutrients out during the brewing process.
Special note on collecting seaweed
Be respectful of the ecosystem. Only take what you need. Only take when there is an abundance around. Do not take it all from one area if you can. The beaches and the creatures in that ecosystem also need the seaweed. Always check that where you are going to collect from is not a protected area of some kind. Many localities are protecting their beach habitats and have placed certain rules and regulations on the collecting of anything off the beach.
