Free Nitrogen Fertilizer

I have a hanging basket of pansies ($8.00 basket reduced to 50 cents last fall). It was beautiful until a mother house finch decided to build a nest in it.

Soon, the urge to fly will take her babies away, and the hot sun will be the demise of the pansies. Until that time, I will enjoy hearing Mama and Papa house finch sing their little hearts out each time they bring the little ones a morsel of food.

The tip? Oh! The tip!

As you can see, baby birds make a lot of poop. Throw that nest away? Not on your ninny. I may throw it into the compost bin. Better yet, I may stuff it in an old sock, tie the end and throw the sock in an old gallon jar filled with water. In a few days, I will stir the water vigorously and pour through a strainer.

Added sparingly, the resulting 'tea' should be good for my two or three foliage houseplants which require higher amounts of nitrogen than most flowering houseplants.