it's really important to know exactly what you put into the garden so in this
episode I'm gonna be showing you how to make your own organic plant food the
best free organic plant fertilizer that you can use in the garden and all that's
coming up right after this I'm Tony O'Neill and this is UK Here We Grow and
on this channel we deal with all things gardening poultry keeping and beekeeping
if it's the first time you consider hitting the subscribe button and bell icon
to be notified each time we put out new content just like this some of you
will have guessed what I'm talking about and that's comfrey now
comfrey is one of those plants that has deep tap roots it sends it roots down really
far into layers of the solar we can't normally reach and there it unlocks all
them nutrients for us and it contains things like nitrogen phosphorus and
potassium that all plants require in order to maintain a healthy system and
to avoid disease so we know this plant is a miracle plant as far as organic
plant food goes however if it's not controlled ie allowed to run to seed
then this plant can become evasive before you switch off though you can
still grow this plant without it spreading in your garden if you were to
cut this plant down before it flowers then you could use this plant and you
would never be able to spread because it wouldn't produce seed
however these flowers are much loved by bees wasps are another pollinating
insects so how do we grow this plant and allow it to flower but not become
invasive but we've got you covered there too this is a variety called Bocking 14
and Bocking 14 is sterile so we know Bocking 14 is sterile and this is the
Russian Bocking 14 cultivar it was bred in the 1950s by Lawrence D Hill what
that means is that you can grow comfrey in your garden without the worry of it
spreading and taking over that garden now Bocking 14 has beautiful bell
style flowers that the bees absolutely adore if you wish to get more plants
from this variety the only real way that works is to take root divisions simply
dig up a plant and cut the roots into two to three inch pieces and plant these
into pots until they start to grow you can then plant these into a desired
location and then you'll have new plants in no time at all you can cut comfrey up
to four times a year and this is where you can get our free best organic plant
fertilizer there is two ways in which to make what is known as comfrey tea the
first is very easy simply place the cut leaves into a bucket cover with water
and place a lid on the bucket as a leaves rot down they release their
mineral and nutrient content in to the water making you comfrey tea this can be then
added to water and can in a ratio of ten to one the second way is to build
yourself a comfrey pipe. this has a little cost associated with it however
you can also recycle these materials from Skip's and people who are disposing
them a comfrey pipe only holds the leaves as these break down they release
a concentrated form of the country this is much easier to store and much less is
required per watering can as it's very concentrated to make a comfrey pipe
simply select the diameter of pipe you wish to use here I'm using a four inch
diameter I cut this using a table saw and table sled simply lay the pipe down
and roll it against the back fence cutting a straight line handsaws
circular saws and chop saws could all be used with great effect the next step
is to have a way to prevent the leaves falling through the bottom here I'm
using an old mesh pot these are typically used for planting aquatic
plants into. I cut the rim off to fit into the pipe once that's in the pipe
the next thing is to find a way to reduce the size of the pipe in order to
catch the running off liquid I decided to buy a rubber reducer again typically
used in the pond aquatics industry however if your pipe is small enough
the end of a soft drink bottle could be used due to the sloping sides of the
reducer the mesh pot cannot get right to the bottom giving a bigger surface area
for the fluids to drip through next steal an old pair of tights from your
wife girlfriend or boyfriend if he wears them and place
over the outlet you can use a cable tie to fasten them for I'm lucky enough to
have a jubilee clip that is it that's the bottom of the pipe belt we just need to
cut a hole in the lid of a bucket the same size as a reducer to fit it in this
will prevent the rain from entering and watering down your concentrate find
where you wish to place your comfrey pipe and fasten it using wire, cable ties
or as I have here the proper brackets for this pipe once this is attached to
the wall you are ready to set it up simply go to your comfrey patch and cut
all the leaves this process is a little more work than before as we only really
want the leaves for the pipe as the stems will reduce the amount of leaves
that we could use in the pipe these stems could be placed into your compost
so don't waste them once the leaves are about a foot from the top fill a 2-liter
bottle with some water and tie some rope to the end of it this will be your
weight to compress the leaves simply put this into the top to compress the leaves
and continue until the leaves no longer compress and your bottle is just below
the surface a simple cap can be used but I have one
of these rain vents for this pipe so I will use this drill a hole through the
cap wide enough for the diameter of the rope to fit through feed the Rope
through but make sure you have enough rope so that the bottle reaches the
bottom of the pipe before it runs out now place the bottle back into the pipe
and place on your cap and your done. You have just made a very effective comfrey
tea pipe now you can make your own organic plant foods from your own plants
how cool is that comfrey tea as many uses and we'll
described some of those in a later episode I really hope you enjoyed this
episode where I show you how to make your own organic plant food do you grow
comfrey do you make your own comfrey tea put your answers down in the comment box
below I'd be interested to know any tips you have for the community as well
because that way we can all learn together I would really love it if you'd
give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed this content please share it
with all your friends I'm Tony O'Neil this is UK Here We Grow
and remember folks you Reap What you Sow I will see you in the next
bye-bye