TEA TIME

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Figured it was high time to make some tea for the plants. They all have been through a rough time this year so far with the unusual long January freeze and the strong winds lately.

Going back to some folk wisdom and some organic gardening basics I came up with this concoction.

It is manure tea with a dash of Epsom salts. Should be just the thing to perk up my beat down plants.

A couple of trowel scoops of cow manure go into the brew and just a tablespoon or so of the Epsom salt. I put the ingredients into some Arizona tea containers that I had saved up. The containers are thick plastic, hold about somewhere around a gallon or so, and are great to reuse to mix stuff in.

Next added some rain water collected in 5 gallon buckets during the passing cold front this week. Put on the cap and shake the brew up and let her sit in the sun. After a few days of settin' in the sun it will be ready to pour on the base root zone of the plants.

Will it help? Who knows, but I figure it couldn't hurt.

The manure adds organic matter to the soil which forms humus which helps the plants take up nutrients and minerals. Mixed with water in the tea it gets to the root zone quicker.

The Epsom salts are a naturally occurring mineral. It is actually hydrated Magnesium sulphate. It is easy for sandy soil to lack Magnesium so I have heard.

The other part of the Epsom salts is sulfur. Plants not getting enough sulfur show light green or yellow leaves. Got plenty of that going on in the garden.

Lots of gardeners for generations use Epsom salts on there plants. Some say it works wonders to make the plant grow stronger others say that it don't.

Anyway, here is the finished concoction ready to go after it ages some.


On the weird side ever seen whats left of an Avocado after it is attacked by black birds.

I have been throwing the Avocado's in a small area of my yard. The flocks of hungry blackbirds arrive and strip away everything but the seed.

Kind of like watching some of them Amazon piranhas attack something.



On the plant front my Mandevilla vine is sprouting some new growth.

I cut the vine off back to bare stick several weeks ago.

The new leaves started popping out this week.

It is a great plant and loves the heat and humidity here in the summertime. This plant never fails to provide
blooms year after year here.


And lastly, [ Is lastly a word? ] Thanks to Susan for identifying this plant for me.

It is a Brazilian Plume Pink Flamingo.

I took some cuttings from it last week that I hope will grow so I can stick it in my garden and maybe it will bloom this summer.

I like the way this plant blooms. To me, it looks like a big firework going off.

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