“Like many gardeners, I have a compost pile that kitchen and green garden waste go into,” Baldwin tells mbg, adding, “Red worms turn it into rich, dark soil full of nutrients.” (Shout out, worm castings.) You can use your compost as a mulch for in-ground plants, she explains, or even make compost tea.
To do this, she says, pile some compost into cheesecloth, tie the top, and soak it in a bucket. When the water turns brown, you have “fertilizer tea” you can use to water your plants. And after wringing out the moisture, you can return the teabag contents to the compost pile!