Farmhouse & Blooms

How To Make Comfrey Fertilizer For The Garden

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Last updated on July 6th, 2023 at 05:36 pm

If you have comfrey growing in your garden, you have a wonderful natural fertilizer at your disposal. Comfrey has the ability to reach deep into the ground to pull up essential nutrients and minerals into it’s leaves. Using these leaves and other parts of this wonderful herb will allow your to make a unique and highly nutritious fertilizer. Learn how to make comfrey fertilizer to use in your garden.

purple comfrey blooms and green leaves against a blurred background
comfrey makes a wonderful natural fertilizer for the garden

Adding comfrey to your garden is a great way to have access to this natural fertilizer. The plant is very low maintenance, and easy to establish in the garden.

We have been growing comfrey in our garden for many years, and always appreciate the value of this plant.

Using Comfrey As Fertilizer

There are a number of ways to use comfrey as a fertilizer in your garden. We generally use the leaves and flowers, however even the stalks can be used to benefit the garden.

large patch of blooming comfrey growing in the garden
large patch of comfrey in the garden

Comfrey can be used as a fertilizer in these ways:

  1. It can be used as a highly nutritious addition to your compost pile.
  2. As well, it can be placed as a mulch around your plants.
  3. It can also be made into a wonderful nutrient dense organic liquid fertilizer.

Lets have a look at each of these different ways that comfrey can be used as a fertilizer in the garden.

1. How To Make Comfrey Compost

Ever since I have been composting my kitchen scraps, I have been aware of comfrey as a great addition to the compost pile. We don’t use the comfrey in the kitchen, but rather as a fertilizer for the garden, and as an additive to our compost.

green leaves
use comfrey leaves to layer into your compost

To use comfrey as compost:

  • Layer it in on a regular basis with your other composting ingredients.
  • The comfrey leaves help the compost to break down quickly, and helps to speed up the composting process.
  • You can add all parts of the comfrey to your compost pile, including the flowers, leaves, and stalks.
  • Break up the leaves and stalks into smaller bits.
  • Some gardeners use comfrey just for their compost alone.
comfrey on a wooden box
fresh harvest of comfrey

2. Using Comfrey As A Mulch

You can also use comfrey directly in the garden as a mulch over the top of your garden bed.

leaves and flowers mulched under a tree in the garden
lay comfrey leaves around your plants and allow them to directly compost in place

To use comfrey as a mulch:

  • Just lay the leaves on top of the garden bed and allow them to break down naturally.
  • They will break down fairly quickly, and the minerals in the leaves will naturally compost right back into the soil.
  • This is probably the easiest way to use comfrey in the garden.
  • To quicken the composting of the mulch, cut or tear up the leaves into smaller bits.
  • They will turn brown within a week and blend in with your garden soil.
comfrey leaves laid as mulch
comfrey leaves laid as mulch

3. Comfrey As Liquid Fertilizer

Using comfrey as a liquid fertilizer is an easy way to distribute the nutrients from the comfrey plant. Using this method you can directly apply the fertilizer to the plants in need.

a man holding fresh harvested comfrey in the garden
harvesting comfrey to make liquid fertilizer

To use comfrey as a liquid fertilizer first you must make a tea:

Comfrey Compost Tea

  • Making comfrey tea is quite easy.
  • Comfrey compost tea is the base for the comfrey liquid fertilizer.
  • The comfrey tea is made with the leaves of the comfrey plant.
  • When left to sit in the water, the leaves infuse their goodness into the tea.
  • The nutrients and minerals infuse into the tea, making a concentrated fertilizer.
  • Straight out of the bucket it will be very concentrated, and will need to be diluted to use in the garden as a liquid fertilizer.
  • It is a strong smelling solution, so it’s best to use a bucket with a lid for this project.

Making Comfrey Tea From Fresh Leaves

hands cutting a leaf
cutting comfrey leaves
  • A five gallon bucket with a lid is perfect for a batch of comfrey tea.
  • Gather your stalks of comfrey, gathering enough to fill the bucket up to the top.
  • You can cut the leaves or rip them from the stem.
  • Place the leaves in the bucket, filling it up to the top.
a black bucket full of comfrey leaves
fill the bucket with comfrey leaves
  • Compress and pack the leaves firmly down inside the pail to remove any air.
  • Fill the pail to the top with the compressed comfrey leaves.
  • The leaves have fine hairs that some people find irritating to their skin, so consider using gloves for this task.
  • Once the bucket is filled with leaves, add water, and cover the leaves right to the top with the water.
a black bucket with comfrey leaves being filled with water
pour water into the bucket to cover the comfrey leaves
  • This solution will need to cook and ferment, so put it in a warm sunny spot and allow it to sit for about three or four weeks.
a black covered pail in the garden
set the container in a sunny location for three to four weeks to brew- make sure there’s a lid to prevent evaporation and reduce the odour

How Long Does It Take To Make Comfrey Tea?

  • After four weeks, your comfrey tea should be well processed and steeped, and ready to dilute to use in the garden.
  • The leaves should be removed at this point and added to your compost pile.
  • The comfrey tea at this stage is very concentrated. It’s important to dilute with water before applying as a liquid fertilizer.
comfrey growing in the garden
comfrey growing in the garden

How Do You Make Comfrey Liquid Fertilizer From The Comfrey Tea?

Once you have finished processing your comfrey tea, you can then use it throughout the season to fertilize your plants. To do this you will need to dilute the tea even further to make the liquid fertilizer.

To dilute the comfrey tea:

  • It’s important to dilute the tea with water.
  • You can just mix it in your watering can when you are ready to use it.
  • The ratio to dilute with water can vary, depending on how long the mixture has been steeping.
  • It is also dependent on the plants that you will be fertilizing.
  • Some use a ratio of 3:1, with three parts water and one part comfrey tea, if the tea has steeped for about three weeks.
  • If you wanted to start gingerly to see the effects on your plants, try a 10:1 ratio, or even a 15:1 for a milder feed.
  • For younger plants or seedlings it is recommended to use the weaker dilutions.
comfrey growing in the sunlight
comfrey is full of important minerals and nutrients

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Plastic Bucket With Lid

Pruning Shears

What Is Comfrey Tea Good For?

Comfrey tea is perfect for fertilizing your garden plants.

The tea contains minerals and nutrients, including potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus, and calcium, all of which are required by plants to maintain a healthy system.

It is a high nitrogen fertilizer, so keep that in mind when selecting the plants you will be feeding.

Using comfrey tea is a wonderful way of using your own plantings to support the rest of your garden.

It is also totally free!

I hope you get a chance to use this wonderful herb in your garden.

Have you used comfrey as a fertilizer in your garden? Be sure to leave a comment down below to share your experience!

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