Feed Your Garden With Comfrey

Also known for it's medicinal qualities, comfrey is invaluable for your garden's health. Hardy and persistent, it can be easily grown from a cutting or a piece of root. The above photos are from a patch I found growing by the river in my local park. I started off my own plant using a tiny cutting I got at the beginning of March:

It looked like this by May 4th:

And is established and strong by September:

It is invasive so position with care.

Garden benefits of comfrey

The plant is high in Nitrogen which is especially good for leafy salad crops and brassicas [cabbages/broccoli]. It is also an effective tomato feed and good for sweetcorn. It can also be added to your compost heap and works as an activator.

Making the tea

The plant is ready for cutting when it reaches two feet high.

You can use the leaves as a mulch but the most effective way to use comfrey is to steep the leaves in water and make a "tea". I have a very simple way of brewing comfrey tea using an empty plastic milk bottle. I shred some mature leaves, put them in the bottle, fill with water and leave to brew inside the greenhouse for a week or so. The smell can be over-powering to put it mildly, so this method means you can get it from the bottle to the plant as quickly as possible.

If you want to make large quantities of the feed, fill a barrel with water, submerge a large amount of the leaves and weigh them down with a brick or something equally heafy. Cover with a secure lid and allow to steep until it smells like the inside of a sewer! If you are accessing the liquid through a tap, put the leaves in an empty onion bag to prevent them clogging the tap.

The longer you leave the brew to cook, the more concentrated it will become so dilute to make a weak tea-coloured liquid.

Nettles can be used in the same way.