Article submitted by Baz

Most of us know the old nettle trick to produce a liquid fertilizer for tomatoes, cucumbers and nitrogen loving plants. But if you are familiar with this you will also be familiar with the awful smell and if you get it on your hands or clothes by mistake, then be prepared to give others a wide berth for a while!  There is, however, an alternative which provides as good a liquid fertilizer without the smell and much prettier flowers – Comfrey.

Comfrey is easy to grow and tolerates, if not thrives, in most soils and most aspects, sun or shade, and will come back again and again no matter how hard you pick it. It also has the advantage of not stinging you while you pick it. It is easy to propagate from an existing plant, just dig up a bit of the rootball and chop a bit off with a sharp spade and replant it where you want – it can also be found growing wild if you are lucky.

To make the fertilizer, ferment a good stack of comfrey leaves in a large bucket, covering the leaves with water as you would for nettles, for a couple of months or so. Best to put a cover on top to stop other bits from falling in. I pick and start fermenting as soon as the comfrey has recovered from its winter rest and use when needed on the first tomatoes.

I have also recently found out its properties as a slug stopper! A heap of comfrey leaves in the middle or at the ends of your newly dug veg bed will attract as many slugs as you could wish for. Either remove the slugs from the heap and dispatch, leaving the leaves to attract more or remove the whole heap and replace with fresh comfrey leaves, continuing to dispatch the little fellers as numbers diminish to radically reduce the population. Finally, after planting, surround your precious seedlings with a comfrey moat around the bed edges, removing those few slugs which remain as you find them and enjoy virtually untouched crops.

My only complaint is that comfrey can be intrusive – so just keep an eye on it once its established – a regular picking should help to keep it under control or plant it in pots. But I think a bit of weeding is a small price to pay for such a wonderful addition to the gardener's arsenal! Roll on, those sweet juicy tomatoes!