POULSBO — Think of it as a latte stand for your garden.

But please, don’t drink it yourself.

This month, Poulsbo’s Valley Nursery installed a SoilSoup dispenser at its Bond Road location. New on the market this spring, the units allow people to “brew” a gallon of beneficial compost tea at the touch of a button.

The SoilSoup company was started in Washington State in 1998 but has only recently been able to offer its technology on a commercial scale. Valley Nursery employee Kathy Joncas said Valley owner Brad Watts saw the SoilSoup cart at a recent trade convention and decided to give it a whirl. The Poulsbo nursery is one of only about 20 other dealers of SoilSoup in the state.

Bainbridge Gardens recently began to offer SoilSoup and co-owner Ann Lovejoy reported people lining up to buy a gallon. Watts is banking that North Kitsap gardeners will feel the same about the product.

Previously, the nursery offered the similar worm tea, an organic liquid plant food extracted from worm casings. But since worm tea takes 24 hours to brew, and is only viable for another 24-48 hours, it was only available Saturdays.

“We could make it every day but it’s a bit awkward and if you don’t sell it, it can’t be used,” Joncas explained.

In comparison, the SoilSoup cart is continuously brewing. The mixture of compost, microorganisms, food for the microorganisms, water and air is kept at a constant temperature and is aerated to keep the beneficial fungi multiplying while the mixture waits to be dispersed.

“This is easy to use and requires very little maintenance,” Joncas commented on the SoilSoup cart. “It’s just self-sufficient. Anyone can do it. Just push the red button.”

Joncas said Valley supplies gallon milk jugs, but also encourages customers to recycle by bringing their own containers. Each gallon of soil soup contains what Joncas called “good bugs” that are a beneficial addition to soil.

“What they do is break down organic material and put it in a form that can be used by the plants, an essential part of the soil,” Joncas explained.

Once the SoilSoup mixture is dispensed from the brewing environment of the cart, it should be used within 14 to 18 hours.

Depending on an individual gardener’s needs, SoilSoup can be used as an organic soil addendum as often as once a week or as infrequently as once a season.

And besides offering an extremely useful material for gardeners, the soil soup cart is an added amenity to Valley Nursery’s already interesting decor. The unit actually looks like an old-fashioned latte cart, which Joncas said may be the reason not many people have tried out the new addition yet.

“They don’t know what it is and they don’t know it’s there,” Joncas said.

But don’t let its whimsical look fool you. Valley’s new cart is also a workhorse, capable of brewing up to 200 gallons of SoilSoup per day.

“I want to try it,” Joncas said with a laugh of the 200-gallon capability.

In addition to a SoilSoup dispensing cart, Valley also offers all of the pieces to make soil soup at home. Brewing systems come in 25-gallon and 6.5-gallon sizes. Joncas said gardeners with big needs may prefer having SoilSoup at their fingertips at home and that the systems are extremely user-friendly.

“It’s totally easy,” Joncas commented on the home brewing systems. “It’s way easier than making soup. Put in the water. Put in the nutrients and put in the compost and you’re done.”

Now through Sept. 7, Valley Nursery is having a special introductory offer on SoilSoup — For every two gallons you buy, you get one free.