Compost and Tea

Here in Dallas we experience strange climate changes regularly with irregularity...that is to say it may be 40 degrees in the morning but in three hours in the mid 60's.  Strange but true, so we must embrace it.  With that being said spring is fast approaching and the need for great plant foods and soil amendments is high.  Recently I started to compost and turn a small raised planting bed.  The current soil is dark and fluffy with good porosity and water-to-air ratio (holds water but allows oxygen into the root system).  Food garbage can be turned into black gold quickly and efficiently by saving your  organic materials.  The real obstacle to overcome when composting is restricting access to your compost.  Foodstuffs and other delicious smells will fill the air thus attracting unwanted visitors so precautions should be taken to insure critters do not help themselves to your goods.  Turning the compost on a regular basis aids in aerating and mixing the material top to bottom.  When its time for planting you simply take some of your gorgeous compost matter and use (roughly) a 10-1 mix of water to compost.  Remember this is all natural and organic matter so plants will not react in the same way if overdosed.  Synthetic fertilizers can and will burn/harm plants if used improperly (sometimes even if used as directed).  Organic nutrients may be wasted if overused and thus creating a situation for a water flush of the root system but they WILL NOT BURN the plants if overdosed.    Using a bucket agitate the 'tea' to aerate the mixture then proceed to topically, foliar or otherwise introduce the liquid to the root system.  Plants love this stinky liquid and will vegetate and bloom with lush results.