I make free fertiliser from Comfrey that I have growing in the garden. I tear the leaves into pieces and push them down into a bucket and then fill with water. I cover that and leave well away from the back door. I add more leaves as they grow and after a few weeks I have a putrid bucket full. I give it a stir occasionally and when it’s well rotted, I sieve it into another bucket and then decant that into bottles. As soon as I have an empty bucket, I start another. Dead easy, excellent fertiliser and totally free.
Do you compost the leftover solids? Mine has very recognisable bits remaining even after months of it sitting brewing, using and topping back up with more water.
Hi, I’m in Alberta, Canada. Last year I grew comfrey in my raise bed. Bcz in 2022 I planted them in 20 gallon bin, but in 2023 it didn’t grew bcz v have too much cold -50 insh. So last year again I order and planted in raise bed. So my question is did I did right thing, same bed I planted peas, beans and corn. But root of comfrey cause my veggies if I continue? Can u pls let me know?
I make the tea as well but never thought of decanting into bottles. What a great idea! How long does what you don't use store for? Do you just keep it outside?
It's easy to eradicate the smell. Simply add 1 talespoon (or maybe less depending on how bad the smell is and the size of the bucket) of sugar. Often brown sugar is specified but any old sugar will do. Then carry on as before. Iytwill have no effect on the plants but it aids in fermentation which removes the really horrible smell. So easy, so effevctive and so safe.
I have been doing this for a few years now. Dandelion, thistle, dock and those persistent weeds you hesitate to put in your compost pile are great in it. They add fertilizer without the worry of spreading them. I like adding a handful of finished compost or forest floor soil to add to the biology. Looking forward to Self Sufficient Sundays!
Brian its best to put it he weeds in s semi pumable bag then put in the water. This contains the weeds from the water you can empty in compost when done or dispose of them in green waste bin.😊
I use a delicates bag that you usually use when washing delicate garments in your washing machine. It has a zipper and you can thread a piece of string through, to aid in pulling the whole thing out without putting your hand into that nastiness!
I commented at the very START, of your “Free Beginner Gardening”, series, how so very MUCH I appreciate you for the uploads!! I cannot articulate how GOOD, these uploads are!! Once again, thank you Thank You, THANK YOU!!!! ✌🏻❤️ Catherine Largo, Florida
I started watching and learning from you in 2020, towards the end of Self Sufficient Sundays, I think. I can't thank you enough for your content and kindness.
I take all of my veggie and fruit scraps and put them into plastic cat litter containers, mix with water and just wait a few weeks. I have many in different stages of stink development. The stinkier the stronger. I call it my garden brew and shared with my son who uses it and can’t believe how well it works… for free!
I have a ton of cat litter containers that I filled last weekend with weeds and water. The whole time I was working, I was wondering if there is a market for it! LOL
I am currently weeding. Well, for the last two weeks. Not even a 16th through and 2 massive trash cans already filled. This is absolutely just at the right time. Going to buy buckets and fill them up for next year (we're in autumn right now). Thanks!
John Kohler calls it compost tea. Even old fruit and veggie scraps. Let them marinate in a bucket of water (with a lid to keep the stank at bay), and water your garden with it.
This is in line with (KNF) Korean Natural Farming practices. They call this FPJ (fermented plant juice). If you ferment oregano scraps, the juice & oils from it is a natural insecticide. You can also mix this with & add your own homemade L.A.B. serum (lactic acid bacteria) for additional good microbes. Check out KNF and JADAM natural farming practices. Very effective stuff.
I found your RU-vid channel right when the Covid lock-down started in 2020. Yes, I remember Self-sufficient Sundays, and I'm glad to hear you're bringing it back!
Fetid swamp water, great stuff! I have two 5 gallon buckets over-wintered so It's definitely ready. It's a good idea in the Fall to brew some up for next Spring, especially when things haven't greened up yet.
CONGRATULATIONS on ONE MILLION subscribers, Brian! Well deserved! It’s been a wonderful ride. I’m excited about the return of Self-sufficient Sundays! ❤️🤗❤️
Brian, I love all your content and I love your heart for gardening and self-sufficiency! I mean absolutely no disrespect when I say this, but as an herbalist, I encourage everyone to find out the health benefits of Comfrey and nettles, because they are very highly nutritious and helpful for making infused oils. I have no doubts whatsoever that they are tremendously beneficial as fertilizer as well. But they are definitely not weeds, they are tremendously wonderful, medicinal plants that even serve other plants! Thanks for all your amazing and free tips!
A weed is simply a plant growing where you don't want it to grow. They aren't bad plants... just misplaced by nature 😂 Some " pesky weeds" I don't like. But, those same plants are wonderful elsewhere in my yard and garden 😊
I'm a free fa! All of my vegative kitchen scraps are thrown directly on my garden. Such an effective way to fertilize! No plants are pulled and discarded. Everything is left to decompose and fertilize.
Comfrey and nettles are also GREAT for your chickens too! Another weed that is a fantastic nutrient source for your Chickens is Dandelions!! Thet will eat the flower, leaves and roots. There are so many health benefits they can get from dandelions!
Thank you for this! I used to make fertilizer from stinging nettle only. Using a mix of weeds is like a multivitamin. Why didn't I think of that, dahh!😆
Found this channel couple of years ago. I’m in Northumberland England on east coast. Your channel has been so helpful & inspirational. Self sufficient Sunday sounds amazing. Looking forward to it 🤩
Thanks for this tip. I have definitely learned from you and Jess (R&R). Our house sits on a half acre, but my garden beds are 300 ft2. I'm a hobby gardener who produces some of what we eat and flowers.
I started brewing this "tea" for the first time when you posted the video. Today I smelled it for the first time transferring it from a kitty litter bucket to a 20 gallon bin to make more. As a gardener that smell is wonderful because I know its going to really put the nutrients the weeds stole from my garden back into the soil. Tomorrow its getting sprayed in my garden with a pump sprayer; diluted, of course. As a plumber...that smell is something that cannot be adequately described; worse than raw, fermented sewage. It'll definitely change the way your breakfast tastes the next morning. Thanks for the videos. You've changed the way I garden.
Dude we are back on the same path! I started growing veggies again in 2019 and your channel was a god send. Since then I have learned so much about JADAM and other natural ways. Can't wait.
Thank you very much for doing this. I wanted a garden forever but didn’t have the money n I didn’t know how. Someone showed me your free gardening vids n I found logs n pieces of wood n I have three amaaaazing flower beds and a great teacher. The neighbors think I’ve been doing this forever, lmao. I saw a video with the cow roaming free.
I made JLF last year with leaf mold since I live in the forest and can my hands on get some readily. I used weeds, wild grasses and some of the old plants I grew last year when it was time to pull them. Even some fruit I grew that were rotting. I added rain water to the top of my container then my handful or so of leaf mold soil. Then I closed it up and waited a few weeks or so. I used it all fall and winter. The older it gets, the better it works! My plants love it and I love the price. It only took a few weeks to fully mature and was useable. It was somewhat stinky at first but wasn’t too bad soon after because of the microbes helping break down the plant matter quickly. Occasionally I’ll add more plant matter, add fresh rain water and a handful or so of leaf mold to top it up and it’s still great! 😊I do grow comfry so I’ll add some of those leaves this year as well. I hope it doesn’t make it too stinky! 😮
Loving your Garden for Free series. Big congratulations on hitting 1 million subscribers Brian. I found you looking for Cali gardener channels about a year ago. I had decided I was going to retire in June and to start growing my own veggies since I would have the time. Watching you and others has helped my in my journey.
Thanks Brian! We were just talking about fertilizing this year. We make our own compost and it appears to be pretty rich in nutrients, but last year's harvest was less than previous years. I also failed to top dress the previous fall. I top dressed this year but we are also adding on to this a purposeful fertilizer addition to hopefully bump up our yield.
Well we have a lot of weeds right now so I should do this. Oh, just learned from a Blue Zone email about a green I didn't know about....Mache or "corn salad". I gotta grow me some now.😋Thanks for today's video.
I hope we are getting close to the monthly progress update video. I see lots of videos of planting, and lots of videos with full grown plants, but I would love to see more creators show the in between and end stages of plants, both with and without the use of fertilizer along the way. I think it's hard to visualize where plants should be at different stages of development.
MARROW BONES for fruit trees and grape vines...maybe this has come up somewhere before (I've just started flwg). When you've made all the bone broth you can out of beef marrow bones, wash and let them air dry in an onion bag in a shed and bury a few of them about a foot? deep around the dripline of fruit trees/fruiting vines and they will provide calcium for about 20 years and help create amazing fruit. I learned this from the tree lady in Ottawa, Ontario, Diana Beresford- Kroeger
The world of Korean natural farming is a wonderful exploration. I made some of the fermented plant juice using brown sugar. Make sure you dilute a little goes a long way for sure.
Chicken poop tea?! I’m so interested …I raise chickens and put the poo directly on my garden in winter so it’s decomposed by spring. Would love to know more about this !
@lisakunish936 Chicken poop is hot nitrogen. Dilute it well or you will burn your plants. Hotter than human pee which should be diluted at least 10 parts water to 1 part pee.
Love self sufficient Sunday. Glad its coming back. Love how Bella always had to get in the video. She sich a cutie 🥰. Thank you for the free fertilizer information.
Not been with you since 2020 but have seen one video when you mentioned it. Sounds cool. Btw I’ve made weed fertilizer last summer with lots of 5 gallon buckets and left it several months. So that I can carry the bucket I filled the bucket halfway of the strong fertilizer tea It’s great to use even for houseplants. I use it for seedlings as well as all outdoor gardening.
i do a cleaner variant of this if you dont mind me sharing. I collect weeds (cutting at the root level to keep the nice root systems in the ground for tilth.) and i cut them with scissors and put them in a blender with rainwater. i then strain it and it makes dark green juice. this way it is immediately usable and theres no bad smell. the downside is theres probably less nutrients since the bacteria havent broken it all down compared to yours but the upside is theres no bad smell and if youre worried about toxins or bacteria issues its much safer (if even there is any issue) but i like your idea too.
I've been telling that to ppl for a couple of years now. Weeds have more nutrients and healthy stuff in them than the plants we grow and that is the key to growing a crop successfully. Allow the weeds to grow between your crops and the bugs and insects will go for them. You need to learn a little more. good vid, thumbs up
❤ Love the information. Lots of channels talk about weed tea but they don’t give details you do to successful make it. I look forward to every video. I don’t have to do a free garden but love the idea of being more self sufficient. You inspire me!
I read about doing this with dried alfalfa, (as in rabbit food) for roses and did It smelled so bad that it actually gave me a nightnare! Haha! But my roses were definitely on the next level. Huge, strong, amazing.
I have been doing this for a year. I use tomato trimming during the growing season. I have some I overwintered ready now and making more with our Spring abundant weeds. (I am in California also when nos is weed season) 😉
A lot of people grouse about grass lawns. Between this type of fertilizer, and dried grass clippings as a mulch, grass that's just growing naturally provides a lot of value to gardens big and small. I also like the Self-sufficient Sunday idea!
Unfortunately, I wasn't with you in 2020. But I have been watching a lot of your videos from 3-4 years ago. Will be starting some manure tea soon and now this idea too! My place should smell 'Heavenly' in July!
I ferment it for a week or two and pour it through a screen into a watering can. Water plants at base and have had good results no burning good green growth
