It stinks, but it's good

You'll recall that on June 4 I promised a trio of upcoming posts, one of which was entitled 'creating your own witches brew - making fertiliser out of garden plants and weeds'.

Spilling some of the evil-smelling mixture I use for fertiliser on myself a couple of days back provided me with a pungent reminder of my pledge.

So here it is: how to fertilise your plants organically, part one.

The most important plant on my allotment is featured in this picture: and it's not one that you eat or grow for its beautiful flowers (although personally I rather like the delicate pinky-purple bells it puts out with abandon). It's comfrey: a herb also known as consolida, bruisewort and ass ear.

Comfrey is a member of the same family as borage and forget-me-not: botanical.com informs me that 'comfrey leaves are of much value as an external remedy, both in the form of fomentations, for sprains, swellings and bruises, and as a poultice, to severe cuts, to promote suppuration of boils and abscesses, and gangrenous and ill-conditioned ulcers'.

I can't say I've ever tested the efficacy of the leaves in a medicinal sense, but it does make very good organic fertiliser when cut down and left to rot down in a bucket of water. Nettles can also be added to the brew. Many gardeners have their own hi-tech method of producing the tea but I am purposely very low-tech: the leaves and stems go into a bucket with some water until I feel like using it: usually a few weeks. Then I drain off the water into cans and dilute by at least five parts with water from the tap. The downside? It really stinks. Really stinks: if you have mischievous children or fellow gardeners it could all end in tears ...

How come comfrey's such a good plant? It's deep rooted, drawing up useful minerals from the ground, including potassium, nitrogen and phosphate. You can also use the leaves as a mulch around plants, or at the bottom of a trench before you plant potatoes, squash, or other greedy plants, or you can stick the leaves straight onto your compost heap and it'll help to get things moving.

Want to know more? This Leeds allotment website has more useful recipes for such fertilising 'teas'.

Comments

[Dan]

Comfrey is pure magic, there can be no other explanation for it. I'm a comfrey zealot - anyone who will listen is urged to grow some in their garden - and one day I'll do something with my two comfrey domain names! Its virtues are manifold - lovely flowers, very attractive to bees, an excellent mulch, makes great tea (for plants) and this year we've found the hens love it and they look good on it. Keep spreading the word!

[Pamela]

I adore comfrey - apart from all its other wonderful qualities, it's just an out and out beautiful plant :)

[Gerald Jordan]

Thanks for the great article... informative... I enjoyed it... gj

[Gerald Jordan]

I am completely ignorant about comfrey, but would like to start growing it. I see that it can be propigated by seed or by root.... is there a significant difference? Any suggestions on getting started?