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