Sometime plants die…

So my tomatoes, basil, and peppers are dying in one bed. Those same plants, in the same setup, are totally fine in another. “Why oh why are you dying little plants? I love you!” I think. “You just need a tasty drink.” Time to feed them COMPOST TEA!

Time for guess work and research!

Maybe this side is getting to much water? It has been a wet May here. But the ones on the other side are fine. So I wait? And wait and wait. While sitting there waiting, the chicks are ready to go outside! So I put my first flock of hens outside in their coop.

Still not getting greener after a week? “Fine, waiting is over! Now it’s step two!” These are heavy feeder plants. I have white gold (chicken manure) coming from my hens. I mix some of that with some water, and pour some with some of the mixture around one of the distressed pepper plants and then stare at it. “Drink tea now! You WILL feel better!” After a while, I give up, and decide to wait for a day.

The next day? GREENING!

I mix up some of the general compost, the white gold, some water (compost tea!) and add some to all my yellowing plants. You want the rescipe? Of course you do!

Victory Compost Tea!

1 five gallon bucket filled 3/4 the way up with water
12 Egg shells (crushed)
Old coffee grounds from a coffee shop (about 4 cups)
1 handful of nasty brown banana peels from the compost
A fist sized chunk of manure

I blended those in a blender I got from goodwill for four dollars. I added two blender fulls to the bucket. Let it sit for a day in the sun. Worked great! I was lucky, because I was feeling lower then a snakes belly watching my garden die. Here’s a more in depth how-to if you’re interested:

Since writing this, I have lost 5  plants, but not to yellowing and dying of their own accord. I straight up saw a bird snipe one of my cabbage plants. Most like just checking if it was food. It sucks because you spend hard earned money on those seedlings, and then some damn bird decides it wants to be a jerk to your plant.

This is why I try to start seedlings, rather than buying them, it’s a LOT cheaper. Next year I want to try winter sowing, so I don’t have to do this tester period, and don’t have to try to harden them. About 98% of my self-started seedlings eventually failed this year when I tried to harden them. “Next year, I’ll get it right! I’ll just start with cold plants!” I will get there, it’s only my first year. And those 2%? They’re doing great! That is a Victory in my book.

Want to see what other viscous animals were being jerks to my plants? THIS ONE.