Photo courtesy of greenacre8 at Flickr.com.
The humble alfalfa plant contains about 300 nutrients (including lots of nitrogen and a natural growth hormone), which makes it an ideal fertilizer for your garden. Although you can always use it as a green manure or render it down on your compost pile, it works better when brewed into a tea.
Please note that this is NOT the kind of alfalfa tea that some health gurus swear by. Yes, people can and do drink alfalfa tea—but not this stuff. While you could certainly (well, probably) drink agricultural alfalfa tea and live, it would taste pretty awful.
Photo courtesy of the_beekeeper001 at Flickr.com.
Here’s a handy recipe for large batches of alfalfa tea for your garden, using alfalfa pellets (the same stuff that people feed their rabbits and guinea pigs): first, take a large garbage can and put it in an out-of-the-way spot. Then fill it to within six inches to the top with water, and add six cups of alfalfa pellets. If your soil rates low on magnesium and you want to grow tomato-family plants, toss in a cup or so of Epsom salts, too. Next, stir the mixture thoroughly, put the lid on the container, and let it sit. Stir it once or twice a day to add some air to the mix. The tea will soon start to ferment; if you add about a cup of molasses on Day Three or so, that will speed the fermentation process along.
The tea will be ready for use in about 1-2 weeks. You can pour it onto your garden beds or use it as a foliar spray; either way your garden plants will respond with lush growth. But be forewarned: properly fermented alfalfa tea has a very strong and unpleasant odor. Fortunately, the good results are proportional to the smell, so it’s worth the inconvenience.
There are other teas, too, that you can make at home for organic fertilizer. Check out the compost tea brewer to make compost tea. And, how about some worm tea? All you need is worm poop, or more properly called worm castings.
{ 0 comments… add one now }