Brewing Liquid Gold: My Comfrey and Nettle Feed Recipe

 After years of tending my two allotments with Sam and Iris, I've discovered that some of the best plant food doesn't come from the garden center - it grows right in my own back garden. Today I'm sharing my tried and tested method for brewing comfrey and nettle liquid feed, a potent organic fertilizer that's transformed how we feed our vegetables and flowers.

Why I Started Making My Own Feed

Like many allotment gardeners, I was spending a fortune on liquid feeds and fertilizers. Then I learned about the incredible nutritional value locked inside comfrey and nettle leaves. Comfrey is packed with potassium, perfect for encouraging flowers and fruit set, while nettles provide a good nitrogen boost for leafy growth. Combined together, they create a balanced feed that rivals any commercial product.

The beauty of this approach is that I grow my own comfrey specifically for brewing. I've got several established plants in the garden that I harvest throughout the growing season, and there's always an abundance of nettles to be found around the allotment edges.

My Brewing Setup

I brew my feed in a large plastic water barrel that sits in my back garden where I can keep an eye on it. The key to managing the smell - and trust me, it does get pongy - is using an onion net as a giant tea bag. This simple trick has revolutionized my brewing process.

I place all the plant material inside a large onion net, tie it securely, and suspend it in the barrel like a massive tea bag. This keeps the leaves contained while still allowing the nutrients to leach out into the water. When the brewing is finished, I simply lift out the net with all the spent material inside - no messy straining required.

The Perfect Recipe

My ratio has been perfected over several seasons of trial and error. I use roughly twice as much comfrey as nettles - so if I'm using two large handfuls of comfrey leaves, I'll add one handful of nettle leaves to the mix. This gives me the potassium-rich benefits of comfrey while adding the nitrogen punch from the nettles.

Here's my exact method:

Materials Needed:

• Large plastic water barrel (mine holds about 250 liters)
• Large onion net or old pillowcase
• Fresh comfrey leaves (about 5kg)
• Fresh nettle leaves (about 1kg)
• Wooden stick for stirring
• 5-liter plastic containers for storage

The Brewing Process:

First, I harvest my comfrey leaves in the morning when they're full of moisture. I cut them right down to the base, as this encourages new growth. The nettles I collect from around the allotment boundaries - always wearing gloves of course! I pick young nettle tops before they've gone to seed, as these are richest in nutrients.

I roughly chop both the comfrey and nettle leaves to help them break down faster, then stuff them into my onion net. The net goes into the barrel, and I fill it with rainwater - though tap water works fine if that's what you have. 

The Brewing Timeline

The magic happens over about three to four weeks. For the first week, I give it a stir every couple of days with my wooden stick. The smell starts off quite green and fresh, but by week two it's definitely developing that distinctive farmyard aroma that lets you know fermentation is well underway.

I don't stir it too often - maybe once or twice a week after the initial period. Too much stirring can actually slow down the process and make the smell worse. The liquid gradually changes from green to a dark brown color, and you'll notice fewer bubbles rising to the surface as the fermentation completes.

By week three, the leaves in the net have broken down considerably and the liquid has that characteristic dark tea color. I know it's ready when the smell stabilizes - it's still strong, but not getting any worse - and there's no more active bubbling.

Bottling and Storage

Once my brew is ready, I bottle it straight into 5-liter plastic containers. I don't dilute it at this stage - I keep it as a concentrated stock that I can dilute later when I need it. The containers go into my garden shed where they stay fresh for months.

Each 5-liter container gives me enough concentrated feed for the whole season when diluted properly. I dilute the concentrated brew until it resembles weak tea, usually 10-20 times depending upon how strong the original brew is. For most applications, I use a 1:10 ratio - one part concentrated feed to ten parts water.

Using the Feed

This liquid gold works wonders on both vegetables and flowers. I use it weekly during the growing season, watering it directly onto the soil around plants rather than on the leaves. Tomatoes absolutely love it - the potassium from the comfrey really helps with fruit development and flavor.

For flowering plants, I apply it every two weeks throughout the blooming period. The balanced nutrition promotes strong stems and abundant flowers. Even my roses have benefited from regular feeds of this homemade brew.

 Our courgettes, beans, pumpkins, swedes, tomatoes and brassicas all show the benefits of regular feeding with this nutrient-rich liquid.

Managing the Smell

I won't lie - the smell is the one drawback to this method. However, keeping the barrel away from the house and using the onion net system really helps contain it. The smell is strongest during the active fermentation phase in weeks two and three, but it does settle down.

I've learned to position the barrel downwind from our house and away from the neighbors' gardens. A tight-fitting lid also helps, though you need to leave it slightly loose to allow gases to escape during fermentation.

Growing Your Own Comfrey

If you're serious about making your own feed, I highly recommend establishing your own comfrey patch. I grow Bocking 14 comfrey, which is sterile so won't spread through seeds. Once established, these plants are incredibly productive - I can take three or four cuts per season from mature plants.

Comfrey is virtually indestructible once established and actually prefers to be cut regularly. Each cutting provides enough leaves for a fresh batch of feed, and the plants just keep coming back stronger.

Cost Savings and Environmental Benefits

Making my own feed has saved us a significant amount of money over the years. A 5-liter container of my concentrated brew, when diluted, provides the equivalent of dozens of bottles of commercial liquid feed. The environmental benefits are equally important - no plastic bottles to dispose of, no transportation emissions, and I'm recycling garden waste that would otherwise go to the compost heap.

Final Thoughts

This brewing method has become an essential part of our allotment routine. Sam and Iris have both mastered the technique now, and we usually have several batches on the go throughout the growing season. It's satisfying to know that we're feeding our plants with nutrients we've grown ourselves, closing the loop between what we put into the soil and what we get back from it.

The onion net method has made the whole process so much more manageable. No more fishing soggy leaves out of barrels or dealing with blocked watering cans. Just lift out the net when it's done, and you're left with clear, concentrated liquid feed ready for bottling.

For any allotment gardener looking to reduce costs while improving plant health, I can't recommend this method highly enough. Yes, it takes a bit of patience and you have to tolerate some interesting smells, but the results speak for themselves in healthier, more productive plants throughout the growing season