Manure Tea

As much as I revel in August's reclusive slothfulness, there are things that need to be happening in the garden. The big vegetable garden has been on its own since the third week of July, and it knows this.  At some point, which is dependent on tomato productivity, weather patterns, heat index, and scheduled guests, I walk out in the cool of the morning one day and announce, "OK, guys, this is it", and the garden knows that I am done with it for the year. Then the rabbits, graveyard grasshoppers, slugs, fungi, molds pass the word that the gardener is finished battling them back and in they rush. I will let them have their way with the plants before turning the chickens out into the garden. Then it will literally be a free-for-all. I had no idea that the chickens would be such great partners in preparing the garden for next spring, but they eat bugs and devour weeds with impressive efficiency.

Meanwhile the circle garden is patiently awaiting its upcoming fall planting. The flowers have run their course and have been removed and the soil is being refortified with manure tea. This tea is made with chicken manure.

In a five gallon bucket with a lid, I put 1 part chicken poop mixed with 3 parts water.  Then the "tea" soaks for a week in the sun. Next it is poured into the beds of the circle garden. There is enough manure left at the bottom of the bucket after pouring off the tea that I am able to refill the bucket with water for another pour. 

Chicken poop is very potent due to the fact that chickens don't urinate. This means that all the nitrogen that would be in their urine is in their poop. This leads many gardeners to burn their plants by using chicken manure improperly. Chicken poop in its solid form must be cured for months before adding to the garden, but chicken manure tea can be used within a week because the manure is diluted.

I have been adding a tea application to the circle garden for two weeks and will make a final application today. Recent rains have helped nutrients from the manure infiltrate the soil, further diluting the potency, and heat from the sun is cooking up a nutrient rich soil. I will let the soil cure for another month before planting in mid to late September. Although chicken manure is nutrient rich, it can also carry some nasty pathogens. For that reason, I won't use this tea after planting. 

As you can imagine, applying manure tea is an aromatic chore. I try to do stinky garden jobs late in the evening on weekdays so that my neighbors won't be subjected to unpleasant smells while sitting on their porches, enjoying company, and barbecuing. But last week my mind was somewhere else and after mowing the yard, I decided to make a tea application before going in the house to clean up. Totally oblivious to the fact that it was Friday, I poured on the malodorous tea. About that time, Fred and Ethel broke into urgent, noisy barking and baying as a black, stretch limousine pulled into the driveway of our neighbors closest to the freshly fertilized garden. Their obviously momentous event was about to be perfumed by Mother Nature......

I just ran into the house and shut the blinds 

Love ya'll, 

Shelli

"If the grass on the other side of the fence appears greener... it must be all the fertilizer they are using."

-  Kevin Rodowicz

 "Over fertilized plants may be beautiful but are otherwise useless, like people whose energies are devoted so completely to their appearance that there is no other development."

-  William Longgood

"The earth neither grows old or wears out if it is dunged."

-  Columella, circa 45 A.D. 

"Sometimes you have to step in it to learn how to avoid it."

-  Anonymous