You can find a wide range of liquid fertilisers available for purchase online or at your local garden centre, and they provide a great way to supply nutrients to your plants. However, you can make your own using comfrey leaves, giving you an almost unlimited supply of organic, nutrient-rich liquid feed for practically nothing.
Comfrey can extract huge amounts of nutrients deep down in the soil due to its deep roots. Comfrey stores these nutrients in its leaves, and by breaking down these leaves into a usable form, you can have a nutrient-rich plant food to use around the garden. This plant food contains high levels of potassium, which makes it an ideal feed for plants like tomatoes.
How to make Comfrey Fertiliser
You will need:
- Comfrey leaves
- Large bucket with a lid
- A brick
- Plastic bottles
- Watering can
Cut the leaves from an established comfrey plant, enough to fill the bucket. Wear gloves for this as the hairy leaves can irritate the skin. Remove any flowers, chop the leaves up, and place them in the bucket. Weigh them down using the brick.
Fill the bucket with water and close the lid. As the leaves break down, the solution becomes very smelly, so it’s advised to store it somewhere out of the way.
Check the liquid every couple of weeks until the leaves have broken down. Pour the liquid into plastic bottles to store in a cool, dark place. The stems may take a little longer to break down, but you can add them to the compost heap.
You can dilute the collected liquid at a rate of one part comfrey to 10 parts water, and generally, the darker the liquid, the more you’ll need to dilute it. Comfrey feed is rich in potassium and can be used to encourage flowers and fruit set on plants such as tomatoes and peppers. Feed these plants once a week with your homemade comfrey fertiliser solution.
Bocking 14
Bocking 14 is an ideal variety of comfrey to use around the garden or plot. Other varieties of comfrey can spread quite easily through self-seeding, and once established, they are hard to eradicate without the use of chemicals. Bocking 14, a sterile variety of comfrey, won’t spread from seed. When purchasing Bocking 14 comfrey, ensure it comes from a reputable source.