Why I Started Dirt Tea: From a Backyard Bucket to One Simple Bag

It started with a dollar-store stocking, a bucket and worm castings.

I would fill the stocking with castings, tie it off and steep it in water for a day or two. Then I used that water on my backyard vegetable gardens and houseplants. It was simple, and it always seemed to work well for me.

One afternoon after working in the garden, I looked at the stocking and the loose castings and thought: there has to be an easier way to make this something anyone could do.

That was the beginning of Dirt Tea.

The garden where it started

This was not invented in a laboratory or a boardroom. It came from the gardens around my home—raised beds, vegetables, flowers and the plants I kept indoors through an Ottawa winter.

I liked the old, time-tested idea of steeping organic material in water. I did not like measuring loose ingredients, cleaning up the mess or trying to repeat the same mixture every time.

The problem was not that gardening needed another miracle product. It needed one less complicated routine.

From worm castings to the current blend

I began researching ingredients that could complement the castings. I added some, removed others and kept working until I arrived at the current all-purpose formula:

• Worm castings
• Alfalfa meal
• Kelp meal
• Fish bone meal
• Glacial rock dust
• Humic acid

Each bag is pre-measured for one gallon of water. You steep it for 12–24 hours, apply the liquid around the root zone and then compost the bag or lightly use the remaining material in suitable soil.

No pump. No stocking. No six open bags of ingredients in the shed.

Who I made it for

At first, I naturally pictured backyard gardeners like me. The more I thought about it, the more I realized the bigger opportunity was indoors.

Canada has a short outdoor growing season. Houseplants give us something to grow all 12 months. They also attract newer growers who want to care for plants well but do not want gardening to become a chemistry course.

Dirt Tea is for that person: the millennial plant owner with a growing shelf of pothos and philodendrons, the balcony gardener with tomatoes in containers, and the experienced grower who simply wants less mess.

It will not be right for everyone. Someone who already owns the ingredients and enjoys making a DIY brew can probably do it for less. A plant with a confirmed nutrient deficiency may need a complete fertilizer with a known analysis. I would rather say that clearly than pretend one product replaces every tool.

Organic without the argument

I prefer organic ingredients and soil-focused care. I also do not want Dirt Tea to become a lecture about how other people garden.

Conventional fertilizers can be useful, especially when precise or fast nutrition is needed. Dirt Tea offers a different approach: a simple blend of organic ingredients for people who value convenience and want to make soil care part of their routine.

You can read the full trade-off in my honest comparison with liquid fertilizer.

What the brand should always stand for

The line is “Soil Health Simplified,” and I want the business to earn it.

That means plain instructions, realistic expectations and no guaranteed transformations. It means explaining that light, water, drainage and the right pot still matter. It means admitting that a 3-Pack is better value per batch while the single pouch may be the smarter first purchase.

Most of all, it means keeping the original idea intact: make an old gardening habit easier for someone to try and easier to keep.

The bottom line

Dirt Tea began in my own gardens because I wanted a cleaner, more convenient version of something I was already doing.

The formula became more complete. The stocking became a compostable bag. The backyard idea became an Ottawa small business. But the purpose has stayed simple: one bag, one gallon and an approachable way to care for the soil around the plants you love.

If you are new to the idea, start with What Is Compost Tea? An Honest Beginner's Guide.

When you are ready to try it, the 10-bag pouch is the lower-commitment start. The 30-bag 3-Pack is about $2.33 per batch and includes shipping across Canada.

Be a Dirt Tea Gardener.

Frequently asked questions

Who started Dirt Tea?

I did—Brent Kelaher, a gardener in the Ottawa area who wanted to make my worm-casting steep easier and less messy.

Where is Dirt Tea made?

Dirt Tea is made in small batches in the Ottawa area.

Is Dirt Tea only for outdoor gardens?

No. I used the original steep on both backyard gardens and houseplants. The current formula can be used for indoor plants, containers and garden beds.

Why not just make it yourself?

You can. Dirt Tea is for the person who values pre-measured ingredients, repeatability and less cleanup.