Philip shares how his batch of swamp water has helped the garden:
At a month old in this Tennessee summer. It has really changed the water into a deep dark green. We tested small parts of each plant bed with 1 qt in a 2 gallon waterer.
Black sunflowers leaves have doubled in size and plants are 6″ taller than the rest.
Corn has grown 6″ in 5 days (I have pictures).
Okra did not seem to care one way or another.
Tromboncino squash did not seem affected. But tromboncino is planted with a lot of bacterial fixed purple yard long pole beans. I always plant the troboncino on a trellis with lots of inoculated pole beans and i never fertilize either one.
Gonna try on brassica and carrot seeds as well as cucumber trellis.
Added some to watermelon and cantaloupe hills yesterday.
Karen writes:
DTG, your posts are always an encouragement. Thank you and your family for giving out such wonderful information. As I was stirring my fetid swamp water and wondering if my root exudate would bring my husband out to the yard, I had a nice, hearty laugh and made up my mind to drop you guys a line saying “thank you”. So here I am. Thanks again!
Swamp Water Works!
On Tuesday I drove home from Hannibal, Missouri where I spoke at the Homesteading Life Conference on minimalist gardening and extreme composting. It was a blast, but I was beat after all that driving, preparing, socializing and more driving, on top of being in the middle of a move from one homestead to another.
At the event, a lovely lady with a great husband and cute kids came up to me and said, “David – I have to thank you. Swamp water saved our garden this year! We started late, and ended up with scrawny, bug-eaten crops in our so-so soil. So I made a batch of swamp water and started feeding it, like you said. Within a week everything was greening up, and then they really took off. We actually got a harvest, and we weren’t going to get anything! It works!”
I was very happy to hear it. Swamp water works! It’s one of my favorite methods. If you’re not making swamp water yet, it’s one of the methods I cover in Compost Everything: The Good Guide to Extreme Composting.
With Dave’s Fetid Swamp Water, you can replace fertilizer AND avoid having to make a bunch of compost to feed a large garden.
Here’s a video: