I hope that, as you’re reading this, your veg patch is in full swing. Despite my slightly later than usual start to the season (spring was confusing, weather-wise!), my tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes are growing well, and I have just planted out another round of lettuce and spring onions. Now we’re in midsummer, much of our attention is taken up with keeping our crops watered, well and harvested. It is also a good time to consider adding supplemental feeding.
This doesn’t necessarily mean a trip to the garden centre, because it’s fairly easy – if a little stinky – to make your own plant feed. There are a number of plants that you can use in this process, but my favourite is comfrey since its leaves offer up such a nutritious elixir that crops seem to really respond to. Comfrey is a perennial plant that produces thick, hairy leaves and clusters of drooping pink, purple or white flowers; it thrives in damp earth. It can be found by the side of streams and rivers, though it’s robust enough to grow in less welcoming ground, pushing a taproot deep into the earth and pulling up nutrients into its leaves, where we can harness them. A huge added bonus is how much the bees, hoverflies and butterflies benefit from its flowers, especially in spring.
Comfrey can be grown from root cuttings or division and does best in a space where it gets a decent amount of sun and access to a decent amount of moisture in order to thrive. Importantly, most comfrey varieties spread through self-seeding, which can become a problem, even for those with plenty of space – so be sure to get your hands on the ‘Bocking 14’ variety, which will still grow vigorously but is sterile, so it will not set seed.
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To make comfrey feed, all you have to do is harvest the leaves and put them into a lidded bucket with enough water to cover them, then weigh the leaves down with a brick, to ensure the rotting-down process happens efficiently. In as little as two weeks, a dark brown (and yes, quite smelly) liquid will have formed and this is your plant feed. Separate the liquid from the leaves (which can now go on your compost heap), and your feed is ready for use. A solution that is one part feed to 10 parts water will be just what your flowering and fruiting plants need to give them a boost in the midst of summer.
Another great thing about this simple process is that it can be deployed with a wide range of plants. Making feed from nettles in spring is beneficial for leafy plants, since they produce a liquid rich in nitrogen, but it’s even possible to make feed from weeds such as dandelion or groundsel – far better than just sticking them in the green-waste bin.
