Weed and Feed

By now, your containers and hanging baskets should be coming along nicely.  To keep them looking their best you need to make sure they are kept watered and fed.  Hanging baskets need extra help.  A lot is expected from them, suspended in a basket, battered by wind and rain and fried by the sun.  Even if it has been raining, make sure you water baskets and containers thoroughly, the rain does not always get down past the foliage.  They need extra nutrients in the form of liquid feeds to keep them in tip top condition, but what cost do your liquid feeds come at?  By using vast amounts of fossil fuels and using something called the Haber-Bosch process, liquid nitrogen is produced.  This is not really very sustainable and is it worth using something so wasteful of precious resources on flowers?  There is a solution; you can easily make your own liquid feed from a special plant and garden weeds.

There is a plant that you can grow in the garden that will provide you with liquid feed for life.  It is called comfrey.  It loves damp, rich soil; you often find it growing near rivers and streams.  A note of caution though, do not be tempted to plant wild comfrey or other types of Russian Comfrey, it will quickly seed around and become very invasive.  There is a cultivar of Russian Comfrey called Bocking 14; it’s very well behaved as it doesn’t make seed.  The only way to propagate it is by dividing and replanting pieces of root.  This would be the only form I would advise to plant.  You can check on the internet for stockists.  If you decide to plant some, prepare a site and dig in plenty of organic matter as it this will help it to establish well and produce lots of leaves.  This is quite a permanent planting, if you need to move it you should be aware that any pieces left in the ground can re-grow, but it is an attractive plant.  An established clump can be cut up to five times a year.

Comfrey in flower

To make a liquid feed manufacturing plant you will need a bucket with a good sized hole drilled into it, or you could use a large flower pot.  Stand the pot on top of some bricks and pop a container underneath that is large enough to catch the black liquid that is going to drip out.  You are going to need something to press the leaves down and I use a bucket or pot filled with rocks and stones that will fit inside the large pot.  You are now ready to start making your own liquid feed.

Simple comfrey manufacturing plant

It is best to use young leaves: once plants start flowering, all the energy is lost from the leaves. Stuff harvested leaves into your bucket, chopping them up a bit will speed the process, put the weight on top and wait.  As the leaves start to wilt and compress down, you can add more to the bucket.  I like to add other sorts of plant material that I feel are of benefit.  Young stinging nettles are good; they contain silica which is ideal for plant strength.  Dock leaves, chickweed and the tops of horsetail can all be used, so even if you have no comfrey you can utilise any weeds, particularly young ones.  Every now and again, I scrape out the broken down plant material and start again.  The resultant goo can be added to your compost heap if you have one.  You can bottle your liquid feed until you need to use it and then dilute it 1 part feed to 20 parts water. So there you have it, a useful way to deal with weeds and a by product that doesn’t cost the earth.

If you have any questions or tips and advice you can contact me on cottagegardenerdromahair@gmail.com