A cup of compost tea for your plants can do a world of good

It's tea time in the garden. But this tea is for your garden, not for you.

Let's begin with a general tonic. Mmmm ... how about some manure tea? Compost tea might serve as well.

Make either one with a giant tea bag: a burlap sack filled with compost or manure. Tie the bag shut with string, then drop it into a bucket or barrel of water to steep for a day or two. By then the water should have darkened to ... what else but a tea-brown color? If the tea looks too strong - that is, too dark - just dilute it before use.

Just about any plant might like this brew periodically poured about its roots. For a quicker pick-me-up spray the tea right on the leaves.

What this tea offers plants is a whole range of nutrients, as well as some natural hormones and other growth factors.

An equally valuable tea, according to some gardeners, can be brewed from stinging nettles. Nettles generally grow wild in rich, sunny soils. Find a patch and, with gloved hands (or else you'll get stung), cut a pile of stems and then cover them in a bucket with water. Let this mix sit for a few days. It is going to ferment, and begin to look and smell rank. No matter: This tea isn't for you. Plants allegedly love it.

So much for general tonics. Other garden teas are brewed up for more specific effect.

TEA FOR PLANT DISEASES

Diseases threatening? Nothing like a spritz of horsetail tea to keep them at bay. You'll often find horsetail growing along old railroad beds. Just boil an ounce and a half of this wild plant in a gallon of water, strain, cool and spray.

Or make a tea from chive leaves. Some say this tea is effective against all sorts of mi

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