Page 16 - ALG Issue 4 2021

Tips for thrifty gardeners from NAS President Phil Gomersall
Over the next few issues, we will be sharing some of the tips from Phil’s online talk which was presented
as part of our National Allotments Week offer. If you have any tips you would like to share with members, please email diane@nsalg.org.uk and we will publish them here.
This issue’s tip is about how to use that wonderful plant Comfrey. It can be used as a compost accelerator, made into liquid plant food, and when it flowers is adored by bees. If left to its own devices, it will seed and spread, but one variety ‘Bocking14’ is sterile and will stay in one place. Grow next to your compost heap for ease of use and feed with manure or compost once a year.
• Place cut or bruised Comfrey leaves in alternate layers throughout your compost heap to speed up the composting process.
• Chop up and use as a mulch.
• Lay Comfrey leaves in the bottom
of your potato trench for potassium rich boost to your crop.
To make a plant food add the cut leaves to a bucket of water (wear gloves to crop the plant as the stiff hairs can irritate your skin). Cover and wait for 4 to 6 weeks – the end result is a very smelly dilute liquid plant food, and the sludge can be added to your compost heap. To make a concentrated feed that you can dilute and does not smell so bad, you will need a large plastic drinks bottle, without a cap and another bottle (with
a wider neck opening) to collect the resulting liquid. Turn one bottle upside down, cut off the bottom and firmly pack with Comfrey leaves. Cover the open end with a plastic bag and wedge into the collecting bottle. The leaves will rot, and liquid will drip into the bottom bottle. You will need to top up the top bottle. Dilute according to the strength of the feed. The darker the liquid the more it will need to be diluted; when thin and brown, dilute 1 to 10.
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16 Allotment and Leisure Gardener
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