Conditioning soil

You folks have way too many sub-topics for simple folk like I to figure out. Shite folks where do I put this?

Whole new section of earth I'm working on to be able to grow in. Dry earth that needs a lot of help.

So, I've been collecting and composting in an open barrel with a drain hole to collect the 'tea'. Grass cuttings, weed pulled, most anything that I'd burn not to spread the seed went in the barrel. It has worked out as great compost tea!

Now I'm working it into the new section.Being fall and the the abundance of oak leaves.. I've piled them and mixed in cardboard (clean) and now throwing this tea over it all in hopes will push the composting for growth next year.

That come to: Anyone done this? What has been your results?

I do also wet it all down with water as well, again hoping to jump start composting...

Hi.

Your question looks like it can go in growies>composting, but here is as good as any.

I don't use an open barrel, but I do have a closed one. Reason is my climate is semi-arid and water is scarce, so I need the compost 'pile' to be covered with a lid to prevent evaporation and rats.
When you compost in a barrel, it doesn't achieve the high temperatures of a hot compost (70ºC). This means that your weed seeds and maybe some potential diseases are not dealed with. Cold compost is not bad, if you know what you have in hand.
We do not have enough composting material to make a hot compost, so we only make vermicompost and cold compost in a barrel.

We work it this way:
Since we may be adding materials that can be damaging for the worms, we first put our waste in the barrel. When the barrel is half full and the composting material is almost done, we pour the content into the worms bath tub, just after extracting some worm manure.
For once, I think that feeding almost composted material to the worms is safer for them, and also, using worm manure is safer for our plants than simple cold compost.

No, we don't manage compost teas, we just let the liquids fall to the ground. We lack the manpower to manage this.

I have a thin layer (about 3") of sod over compacted high clay dirt. Rather than going through all the trouble to dig, and mix amendments in for quick results, I think it's probably easier and better in the long run to let plants do the work for me. Come spring I will be seeding over much of my grass areas with a mix of daikon, buckwheat, and something else, yarrow perhaps. I've already spread a lot of white clover, but I think it's losing the battle with the grass. I will of course mow this, but the daikon will help break up the dirt, leaving roots as necromass. If I end up with some radishes to eat, bonus! There are a few areas where I might let it go wild to propogate.