MAKE YOUR OWN LIQUID FEEDS
Kitchen Garden|May 2022
It's easy to make a liquid feed for your plants and there are many benefits from doing so, says Dr Anton Rosenfeld, knowledge officer of Garden Organic
Dr Anton Rosenfeld
MAKE YOUR OWN LIQUID FEEDS

A liquid feed can be thought of as liquid meal replacement for plants. It contains nutrients in a soluble form that they can take a up very readily. These feeds are best used on container-grown plants, where the roots are restricted to a very finite supply of nutrients.

In the summer, a hungry fast-growing plant such as a tomato in a pot can use up all the nutrients within four weeks so, after that, it will need the extra nutrition from a liquid feed in order to thrive. Plants growing in the soil shouldn't normally need a liquid feed as they are able to exploit the slow-release nutrients from a much larger volume of soil.

Making your own organic liquid feeds is a much more sustainable option than buying one and can save you considerable money. Bought products are often made from synthetic chemicals and even organic products require considerable energy to manufacture, package and transport them.

COMFREY LIQUID FEED

Comfrey is perhaps the best plant to make liquid feeds. It is related to borage, and is very good at drawing up nutrients from the lower depths of the soil into its leaves. To grow your own comfrey plant, it is best to find the 'Bocking 14' variety, which doesn't set seeds, so won't spread around your garden, unlike the common comfrey. The leaves can be cut and harvested for making liquid feed from April onwards. In a typical summer, it is possible to get at least three cuts, but this very much depends on the weather – in a very dry summer you may get less.

HERE'S HOW...

This story is from the May 2022 edition of Kitchen Garden.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the May 2022 edition of Kitchen Garden.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM KITCHEN GARDENView All
DIGGING THE DIRT PARSNIP WARS
Kitchen Garden

DIGGING THE DIRT PARSNIP WARS

All's fair in love and war, as John Holloway recounts the friendly rivalry he shares with fellow allotmenteer Joe

time-read
2 mins  |
April 2024
FLAVOURSOME FRUIT GROWING IN CONTAINERS
Kitchen Garden

FLAVOURSOME FRUIT GROWING IN CONTAINERS

Want to grow fruit in pots on your patio or in your backyard? Top tips and advice this month from fruit expert David Patch

time-read
7 mins  |
April 2024
ASPARAGUS TIPS
Kitchen Garden

ASPARAGUS TIPS

Asparagus can be expensive to buy in the shops, but given a little space and time, it’s easy to grow this gourmet treat in your own back garden. Here’s how...

time-read
2 mins  |
April 2024
THE CREATURE FEATURE Beauty and the thief
Kitchen Garden

THE CREATURE FEATURE Beauty and the thief

We all know how valuable bees are on the plot - without their pollinating power, our harvests would be pretty pathetic. This month, Jack Edmonds takes a look at some common April plot visitors, the mining bees, and the parasitic nomad bees out to spoil their fun...

time-read
3 mins  |
April 2024
Paying it forward
Kitchen Garden

Paying it forward

We meet Ross Pearson, a gardening writer and horticultural lecturer from Northumberland, who was inspired and helped by his grandfather and now passes on his experience to the next generation of gardeners

time-read
5 mins  |
April 2024
HARD TO BEET
Kitchen Garden

HARD TO BEET

Tony Flanagan offers a whistle-stop guide to growing this much-loved root and picks out some varieties you might like to try

time-read
2 mins  |
April 2024
FLOWERS TO feast on!
Kitchen Garden

FLOWERS TO feast on!

In this extract taken from A Floral Feast: A Guide to Growing and Cooking with Edible Flowers, Foliage, Herbs and Seeds, Carolyn Dunster focuses on three beautiful and popular annuals

time-read
5 mins  |
April 2024
HUW'S HEROES!
Kitchen Garden

HUW'S HEROES!

This month Huw Richards explains a method of organising your choice of crop varieties - with reliable stalwarts on the one side and those offering something more demanding on the other

time-read
3 mins  |
April 2024
Kitchen +Garden TOP PICKS
Kitchen Garden

Kitchen +Garden TOP PICKS

It's time to get growing and you'll need the very best products for sure-fire success this spring. Check out this selection of must-have products from some of our trusted partners, which should be on your shopping list this month

time-read
3 mins  |
April 2024
MIND THE GAP
Kitchen Garden

MIND THE GAP

Garden Organic's Anton Rosenfeld shows you how to plug the 'hungry gap' in spring and have ready supplies of home-grown food all year round

time-read
3 mins  |
April 2024