Comfrey tea, or comfrey fertiliser, is an all-organic, easy to make plant food that provides excellent nutrition, especially for flowering and fruiting plants. Over the last few years in the garden at Ambios we have been experimenting with making comfrey tea, and other variations of plant based fertilisers, to help nourish our plants. During a recent garden session our spring trainees had a go at making some:
We fed the perennial plants who had been resting through the winter (e.g. strawberries, flowers, edges) with the comfrey tea liquid feed we made in the winter diluted with fresh water. This gave them some fresh spring energy ready for this period of growth!
We made a new liquid feed which we’ll regularly feed the summer crops with (e.g. tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers).
To do this we harvested comfrey (only about less than a third of the plants – we left some to continue growing, wildlife will love the flowers). We’ll likely get between 2 and 5 crops from the comfrey through the year – amazing plants – beautiful, abundant, excellent mineral accumulator with their incredible roots, and nature-friendly.
We then shredded the comfrey leaves and added some nettles and borage from the garden too – added to a barrel and filled with water – and this feed will be ready to use for the summer 😊
We are also trying a dandelion liquid feed using plants which were dug out when clearing space in beds – roots and all!
✍️ Leona Brennan, Garden Facilitator
If you want to find out how to make your own comfrey tea, here’s a recipe.
