We were visiting a keen gardening friend a couple of months ago. She was showing us around her polytunnel. Her plants were thriving and looked great. She was picking beans and beetroot months ahead of us. Sure, these plants were in the warm and out of the wind.
But her results were still very impressive.
Then she dropped her bombshell.
She revealed she uses a secret natural fertilizer. A fertilizer she makes herself. It’s so simple and easy to make. Best bit?
It’s absolutely free.
Turns out she makes a liquid fertilizer from…. Comfrey.
As you may know, comfrey is a plant that grows to around 3’ – 4’ tall. It has a widish stem. And large succulent leaves with a purple flower.
Comfrey has deep roots. This means it takes in nutrients unavailable to more shallow roots. And these nutrients are stored in the leaves. The nutrients it’s high in are nitrogen and potassium.
So when you harvest the comfrey leaves then you can make a potent liquid feed.
We make comfrey feed in two ways.
- Cut the comfrey and put it in a 45-gallon water butt. Let the leaves and stems break down over a two week period. We then dip our watering can in and feed our plants.
Or…
- Make a concentrated comfrey feed. For this, you’ll need a 5-gallon plastic drum. Cut the top 100mm off. This way you have a handle on what will be the lid. Drill a 1” hole in the centre of the bottom of the drum. Make a wooden frame for this drum to sit on. You’ll need to be able to fit a small plastic collecting bowl underneath the plastic drum. As this is were the comfrey will drip into.
Next, collect your comfrey. Don’t worry about cutting too much. Any excess can go into your compost bin. Cut the comfrey into 6” lengths. Put these in the drum.
Then you’ll need a flat piece of wood that fits inside the drum. Put this on top of the comfrey. Put a brick or small rock on top of the wood, as this will press the comfrey down and extract the goodness from the plant. Then put your lid back on top of the drum. The idea is to make your comfrey weatherproof.
What you’ve just done is made your own comfrey press. The weight of the brick will push down on the comfrey. And over the coming weeks you’ll start to see a dark liquid collecting in your bowl. Neat comfrey juice. Highly nutritious that your plants will suck up.
You’ll need to dilute this liquid. Say a ratio of 1;10. One part comfrey. 10 parts of water.
If you cut enough comfrey over the season you can store the liquid in bottles. And save on expensive fertilizers.
Try making your own comfrey feed. Your plants will love it!
