Better than Miracle Gro: Make Fertilizer from Weeds

Got weeds? Who hasn't?! Well the good news is that that is reason to celebrate because weeds are gardeners' gold...if we know how to put them to good use.
In this week's episode, Ben demonstrates some very clever ways to turn your enemies into your friends. It's so empowering to be able to turn those pesky weeds into something so potent and useful! In this video you will learn how to turn any unwanted plant material into rich fertiliser to enhance your plants and give your garden a glorious boost.
For our video on Ben's top 10 money saving crops, watch this next:
• If I Could Only Grow 1...
For our recent watering video, see
• Pro Gardeners Water Di...
Catch up on all our previous monthly sowing videos using this handy playlist: • What Can I Sow Now? Mo...
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[@thefumblingcuisiniere]

I have always pulled my weeds by hand, usually dropping them wherever there's open space to let them decompose and naturally mulch lol. Love that I can say, "it's not lazy, it's organic mulching!" 😂👍

[@thefumblingcuisiniere]

@@andredebree6865 I like that mindset. Efficiency! 😂👍

[@thefumblingcuisiniere]

@@andredebree6865 I like that mindset. Efficiency! 😂👍

[@Handles_arent_a_needed_feature]

Some of them can regrow from that

[@derivesrurale]

@@thefumblingcuisiniere and you don't risk splashing your vegetables with salmonella juice . water + bacteria don't add up nutrients in the weed, the weed is weed so let it decompose on the ground. also, once the bacteria are on the ground, all concentrated there and out of their element, they'll just die... and maybe it's one more risk to avoid.

[@ErwinvanHolten]

it is called lazy composting

[@chubbyninja842]

I used grass clippings from my yard to make a compost tea in a bucket in my shed. I poured it on Mama's okra garden. The plants grew to 7 feet tall! They produced so much okra, we had to give away gallon-size ziplock bags full of them every week all summer long.

[@GrowVeg]

Wow, that’s fantastic!

[@tristenarnold]

Did it smell?

[@jabuhrer1]

This is the most weed talk I've listened to since I lived in the college dorms!

[@GrowVeg]

Haha, very good! :-)

[@reer5340]

now, here it is a funny story. I was chatting with a neighbour the other day whose garden is pretty much what you will call the classic 'perfect' garden. Let's spray the potatoes against whatever with some chemical, but already showing me signs of blight. When talking about fertilizers he won't use cow manure because you know 'weeds' might be there, so of course chemical pellets all the way for him. I nod politely because in fact one can learn from anyone. In my garden on the other hand I learn a lot from observing weeds. They are amazingly resilient and prolific. So I started to grow my vegetables as if they were weeds and I am glad to say, it works 🙂

[@alisonmiller2708]

How do you grow your vegetables as if they are weeds? Do you not fertilize them in any way or let the strongest survive? Just curious about your method😊

[@reer5340]

@@alisonmiller2708 It is a combination of many things. Letting the strongest survive is one, but also no monoculture and strength in numbers. For fertilization, I am happy to say that my food cycle is closed in terms of outputs, meaning that I don't throw anything away. There is a compost heap, a wormery and bokashi. The latter started when I was living in a top floor flat and it was done on a balcony. Now bokashi can be gruesome if you get it wrong which I did a few times and feared that I will be evicted 🙂 I do have an understanding wife though and now she is the biggest fan. So much so that she was considering going around the neighbour's houses and collect their food rubbish, because she wants more bokashi 🙂. There is also michorizae, the symbiotic relationship between mushrooms and plants. I could go on, but I think is better to mention some references: Masanobou Fukuoka and if you speak French check out Damien Dekarz and Philip Forrer.

[@GrowVeg]

Great to take a more natural approach I reckon. :-)

[@RoyBeerZ]

@@reer5340 Thanks for the names for references - I wanna learn all about mycorrhizae

[@TheCrazycrab2]

@@reer5340you didn’t say anything? Just rambled

[@dalya1702]

Weed corpse juice to feed my garden?? Delicious 🥴

[@41Fivin]

everybodys on the weed.. even mother earth 😂😂😂

[@Lettering-Ink]

I would hope to understand how adding aerobic bacteria and organisms to an anaerobic environment gives it a boost. Wouldn't they die in the water?

[@dalya1702]

@Lettering-Ink well only if it's standing water because if it's running then it gets oxygen when it moves or somethig.

[@oceansoul3694]

I made a lovely Comfrey feed this year, and even though the grasshoppers massacred my garden except for the zucchini, it did turn into a real witch's brew of fouls smelling ick and the zucchini love it! Thank you for your never-ending support and encouragement. You're a great teacher, Ben, and we are all the better for it! With all the turmoil going on in England (London) I'm so glad you have your beautiful garden to disappear into and in which to find solace.

[@reer5340]

what's the turmoil in England(London) ?

[@tbug8470]

@@reer5340hi, maybe referring to the riots in Leeds.

[@mistsister]

A master gardener just gave me my first comfrey and i can't wait to make compost tea out of it.

[@ArtByEmilyHare]

@@tbug8470Leeds isn’t London

[@coggy52]

England isn’t just London.

[@marciacunningham5877]

I put my weeds and greens into a small horse trough and chop them with a weed eater. As an experiment , I put the chopped greens into a black plastic bag and left it in the sun. After several days I had the equivalent of fresh horse poop. I then aerobically composted it. Great stuff! Michael

[@GrowVeg]

Sounds great - well done!

[@chikemadekwe5737]

I don't know why I even bother looking at other videos, yours always seem to be the most articulate and enjoyable.Thank you and keep em coming.

[@GrowVeg]

Wow, thank you! :-)

[@Jawst]

Natural solutions are always much better when it comes to natural environments!! I recently started developing a slug attractant from paper pulp, leaves and malted Barley to keep the slugs away from plants! So far it works amazing!

[@tuberzish]

Thank you Ben for all the great advice! As a busy gardener whose weeds tend to get ahead of me, I have a favorite method of dealing with them that is simple and easy to do. When I have a patch where the weeds are big enough and plenty enough to grab in handfulls, I wait till the surface is dry and the sun is hot, hopefully with a drying breeze. I pull each handful of weeds and slap them against my thigh or another handfull to dislodge the dirt, then I lay them back on the ground to serve as mulch, making sure that the leaves are in the dirt and the roots of each successive bunch are on top of the leaves and in the sun. This covers the leaves and exposes the roots, turning the mass into a nice bed of mulch. This works especially well when the majority of weeds are of the same age and kind, but it also works well enough with a variety. After the weeds have wilted sufficiently, I can add more mulch to fill in any bare areas. Nutrients go directly back into the soil, I don't need to spend time doing anything else with the weeds, and I can get by with a minimum of additional mulch.

[@GrowVeg]

Love this method - simple but so effective! :-)

[@thatguychris5654]

The gas produced in the water bucket is mostly methane due to anaerobic bacteria conditions. It would be mostly carbon dioxide if it was aerated with a bubbler. With no air induction, a tight lid, and methane capture, this is basically a single batch biodigestor. The main difference between the end result (sludge vs tea) is time.

[@mariap.894]

In more lame terms, please🙏

[@TM.BECK14]

​​@@mariap.894 "Bad" bacteria tend to prefer no-air conditions, "good bacteria" tend to prefer aerated conditions. Add continuous air with a bubbler to help prevent sludge and reduce methane release. (This is a simplification)

[@mariap.894]

@@TM.BECK14 Thank you very much for your explanation! 🙏💜🦋🪻👋😊Blessings your way🙏

[@ragheadand420roll]

@@mariap.894kamala harris writes his stuff. She has burdened him with what must be unburdened

[@mscheibl5230]

@@TM.BECK14 Adding a "starter" culture, whether that be compost, some form of silage, or bio-live yogurt, should make the environment less hospitable for pathogens to develop.

[@DownButNotOutYet]

Good morning Ben, it was so enjoyable to see what you do with those horrible weeds. It is the best way to go. My husband use to dig them up, bag them and then they were waiting to be collected by the garbage collectors. What a time consuming waste. Weeds are amazing how they can grow, nobody wants them but they are always there coming from nowhere??!! I love the tea section, perfect instead of spending a fortune on "organic" fertilisers. Most enjoyable video, how to make use of unwanted garden invaders. Have a special day, kind regards.

[@GrowVeg]

Great to hear you enjoyed it - Happy Gardening!

[@walterlodzinski6847]

Yesss finally! Tell the people 🙌 start rocking the KNF and JADAM gardening everyone!!

[@phyllismcdaniel-cook946]

Thank you for the ongoing encouragement. I seem to be in need of it this year,so challenging. Thank you also for the unending love you produce for all your viewers!

[@living4Him90]

I made comfrey tea and nettle tea this year when I found out about this! It’s so great to make fertilizer for free😊. And now I know I can use other weeds as well! This was really insightful.

[@priayief]

Many years ago when I started my gardening "career", I became fascinated with the use of garden "teas". Back then, I was looking for gardening approaches that would "supercharge" my veggies. I brewed up a concoction that was based on compost, molasses and a couple of other ingredients and applied it to my raised beds for several years. My wife (a non-gardener) hated this smelly stuff and at one point asked me how I knew this stuff works. I tried to explain the concept to her but she never understood the concept and at one point, told me that she wasn't interested in why it works but does it improve the veggies in some way. Good question! I didn't know. I resolved to find the answer to her question. To do this, I sowed identical varieties of peppers and tomatoes in two different raised beds. I applied my compost tea to one of these beds and not the other. At the end of the season, I didn't notice any difference in the veggies produced in either bed. Admittedly, since I didn't precisely measure any of the veggies, there could have been small differences, but none of them looked "supercharged". Needless to say, I was disappointed. But I didn't give up because I believed in the concept. I resolved to test various other forms of garden teas in subsequent seasons. After 3 or 4 years of trying alternatives, I still didn't get the supercharging that I hoped for. I gave up trying.

[@kumatmebro315]

Yeah it's largely a myth, there is very little nitrogen in this stuff

[@GrowVeg]

Interesting, thanks for sharing your experiences. I do find it helps somewhat, but in fairness haven't had a control bed/s to compare against.

[@priayief]

@@GrowVeg I would have thought that this is a significant point to make in recommending this practice. Perhaps I missed your mentioning it?

[@Torrque]

It is conceivable that, though there is no discernable “supercharging” to your produce, your soil is being strengthened and “healthed” by such practices what with a constant supply of various nutrients and matter continually being circulated… soil health and regeneration in general? As well, perhaps the nutrient profile increases a bit within the produce itself??

[@ironmaiden3751]

I had to buy garden soil to fill 8 or 9 raised beds last Spring (my soil is hard packed clay) it turned out that purchased soil was the worst, lots of stone, dead dirt I call it. Gray. Seedlings were languishing. Then I got back to 'stewing' my tea using comfrey in one and grass cuttings in the other. There was an obvious growth spurt of all veggies except for my onions every time I gave them a 'drink' so....I now swear by the stuff. Looking forward to 'drowning' my weeds as my 3rd option next summer.

[@sparkymikey25]

Doing this same thing in 2 20-gallon plastic bins, they've been sitting in the back of my garden since June and this video made me remember they are there!

[@MElaughs]

YES!!!! Glad to see this technique being publicised. Nice additions for the chop n drops.

[@MElaughs]

Greg, dunno how long you've had yours going but you have a strong platform and I love what you're doing so giving you my own research on this. To anyone else starting up. My "bog box" (the swampy container I use to feed my garden) has been going for 4 years now, the smell has gone from pond sludge to an ammonia like rotten grass stench to pig farm and now a rich earthy, petrichor like aroma with a slight mildew note. Enriched with lots of coffee grounds as I drink a fair bit of it (exclude filters). I recommend smashing up some dry coir (do not inhale the dust) and rehydrating it gradually with some neat swamp juice - I filtered mine through an old net curtain to rid of the twiggy bits. I've started all of my peppers (long sweet & scotch bonnet), courgettes, tomatoes, peas, beans, garlic. Everything basically. Using this trick. 5 bricks makes around a 50L bag of compost. I mix in some cheap stuff from the gardening store if I'm doing larger containers (10L+) just to bulk it out more than anything. It doesn't rot down like normal compost so you're not topping up your pots constantly.

[@karenhealey935]

Thank you for bringing my sanity back. We live in New Zealand so some of the weeds we have are different to yours but I removed weeds and left them to wither on the top of the soil and the damn things were looking as healthy as over a week later just lying there staring up at me smirking. I now know where I was going wrong.

[@GrowVeg]

Glad to help! Happy Gardening!

[@XtremelyAnonymous420]

Pls dont do this, think of all the beneficial critters worms, insects, even small rodents little baby bunnies living in burrows under the soil :(

[@stuartreid1542]

Don't forget that many weeds are both tasty and nutritious! How about an episode on collecting and preparing them?

[@GrowVeg]

Sounds like a great idea - thank you!

[@jeas4980]

I thrift large decorative pond pots (no holes... looks like a 20 liter flower pot but is for a small water feature) and I place them around my garden, leaving them open topped to fill with rain water and I throw my weeds and pruning into them. They house frogs, dragonfly nymphs and ...yes... mosquitos (which the frogs and dragonflies adore as a snack). I bought a USB rechargeable wireless misting sprayer that has a filtered intake at the end of it's hose. I just drop the filtered end of the hose into these random pots spread about my garden and give the locals a nice foliar spray. Occasionally, it rains well and the spill over feeds the nearby plants and, more importantly, the soil life. And I clean them out into the compost when they get too full.

[@GrowVeg]

What a lovely setup - great idea.. :-)

[@Hirsutecyclist]

That sounds great expect that mosquitoes are already awful for me here in Malaysia, and I have already had dengue fever once since moving here. Apparently it is pretty awful if you get it a second time. I will have to stick to dryer options.

[@jeas4980]

@@Hirsutecyclist I feel ya. I lived in 🇹🇷 as a child and got really sick from so many mosquito bites. It wasn't dengue fever or malaria but I swelled up everywhere, got a full body rash and so sick. I'm fortunate that in the Virginia swamp where I live now... the bat and dragonfly population keeps the mosquitoes pretty well in check. I also put up bat houses and bamboo sticks everywhere I can to draw them in and give them shelter for breeding. It's working well.

[@angelalewis3645]

That’s brilliant!

[@zprince4120]

I did a very similar thing with a small plastic kids pool. For better mosquito control add a couple of feeder fish from your local pet store and an air stone. For anyone who might not know feeder fish are just small baby gold fish.

[@lynnpalfi4322]

Hi there Ben. Thx for another informative video. :-) Lots of times when I don’t plan on making a weed tea or adding my weeds to the mulch bin-put my teapot to work. This is great for the odd ball standing alone weed… Boil water in pot and when it’s a a rolling boil thoroughly saturate weed making sure to get plenty going down and he tap root. Cheap and organic way of ridding weeds and this is great for garden paths and sidewalks with those “hard to pull out” weeds.

[@cristicion3333]

Great advice! Thank you. 😊

[@GrowVeg]

Great tip, thank you! :-)

[@dnawormcastings]

What great idea I’ve just started putting my grass clippings in a drum with water it really smells after 2 weeks but the plants are loving it 🇳🇿🌱

[@Robbinski]

I am in a very wet climate of Hawaii so putting any roots on the ground is a sure thing to have them grow again. One thing I sometimes do if I have collected a lot of weeds is to cut the roots off and then lay the weeds down into my bananas or papaya’s or other heavy feeder plants or on pathways where I need to cover with material so other seeds do not grow. I do throw the roots away to make sure they are not in an area to grow again.

[@jimtams]

Do you have a page where you update your garden work?

[@archur111]

I did that this year with weed tea and it sure is effective for growth. I had difficulty getting peppers and tomatoes to flower but the growth was phenomenal.

[@fionnaheller1873]

I've never used the double bucket idea but have chopped leaves of nettles/comfrey etc and layered those in a jar with sugar, diluting the resultant ooze about 20 to 1. Another one is to dry eggshells, place in jar and cover in vinegar - it fizzes quite a lot so don't overfill or screw a lid on till it has finished and that gives a nice calcium booster, again only a tiny splash to a watering can. Another one an old miner told me about was to take the horse dung I gave him, shove it in a coal sack [the old ones that were permeable] and stand that like a giant teabag in a container of water. I use the same idea if I'm making a large amount of weed tea as it makes it easy to strain the slimy goo left at the end. Oh, and an old gardener told me that if you want a plant specific fertiliser to use old leaves/trimmings [as with courgettes/tomatoes] and add those leaves to its own batch of fertiliser as the plant produces itself what it needs and wants. I grow dandelions as a crop anyway but the leaves of those are excellent for trace minerals including calcium. I was told that the upright leaves of the plant indicate it has brought the calcium up from deep with the ground, whereas the ones flatter to the soil are still doing that. No idea if its true but I've stuck with that for decades. I've always tried to live in harmony with my weeds because losing battles are rarely happy things to fight and it is so encouraging that you advocate much the same attitude - thank you.[ My carrots have been a greater disaster than my onions [from sets] this year btw. I could weep!]

[@GrowVeg]

Some great suggestions there, thank you! :-)

[@gabejohnson97]

The vinegar and eggshell stuff is great! I have bottles and bottles of it at home. Completely pH neutral as well. For the science nerds, the acetic acid (AKA vinegar) undergoes an acid-base reaction with the calcium in the eggshells, which results in a solution of CALCIUM ACETATE, a water-soluble form of calcium which is immediately bio-available for your plants to make use of. I am lucky enough to be the breakfast chef at a busy cafe, so I have access to endless calcium via eggshells and nitrogen via coffee grounds. If you want eggshells and coffee grounds in bulk, talk to your local cafe owner about collecting their scraps!

[@fionnaheller1873]

@@gabejohnson97 Thank you for your informative response. I vaguely knew the chemical process but never really thought about in detail, not being science minded, so that is interesting. And what a good suggestion - it is a perhaps an idea to ask at hotels/B&B's too though for best results I would expect that truly free range hens produce the best shells and for that you'd need the local hen keepers/farms who raise the hens that way. I haven't tried an experiment with different shells - it is just a thought.

[@Matt-rn2cx]

I'm going straight home to set this up this evening, thank you for the great tips.

[@GrowVeg]

Great to hear that!

[@NinaHagen-ym7ng]

Thank you so much for your advice and generous sharing of your knowledge. I sometimes add prinary rock flour to take away the intense smell. Love from Germany

[@GrowVeg]

Great tip! :-)

[@MissingModi]

Hey Ben. Hows life going on Brother. . This is from Bangalore, India... A thanks and a salute. . You are indeed someone with whom I should have been through my life gardening. . Just a quick Tip...... Weed Tea Wonder. . Soak in hot water all those kitchen scraps and those garden weeds that will decompose into a large container. . Keep adding sugar or jaggery or rotten fruities that helps to add lot of glucose, sucrose and fructose to the mixture at the start. . Then connect a air pipe from an aquarium motor to pump oxygen in it. . Keep doing it for a month, with twice a day 1 hour oxygen pump on to keep feeding the rotting mixture with some active air borne microbes. . In a month or so, you will get a highly earthy smelling liquid/plant decomposed tea that 1: 20 part of clean water can be sprayed on veggies in your garden. . I bet, your green veggies will tripe in size if you spray that diluted solution twice a day. . Your tomatoes, Potatoes, green peas and all small plant seedy veggies will have thick leaves and high resistance to insects and fungus. . And. .... Always in your garden keep a mixture of sweet honey/sweet cane juice/sweet sugar/sweet jaggery/sweet apple juice/sweet pineapple juice/sweet sugar beet juice diluted in water somewhere where ants are not there. . That will help attract lots of bees 🐝and pollination friendly insects which helps improve your yield by few folds. . Try it Brother. 😊😊😊

[@GrowVeg]

Great suggestion, thanks so much! 😀

[@kumatmebro315]

The NPK of compost tea is miniscule, you don't have to water it down

[@collinmc90]

made a five gallon bucket earlier this spring, works great and lasts a long time I'm still using the same batch months later. probably just gonna mix in the last of it with my lawn.

[@Stu-Vino]

Good to know that you can use alkanet as a replacement for comfrey. I have plenty of the former but none of the latter!

[@zan4110]

I just opened it up after 6 weeks and gave my pepper, tomato, eggplant and potato plants a drink...! It smelled like horse manure....think they loved it..😊

[@GrowVeg]

I am sure they did!

[@FarmLife-k7f]

"I didn’t know growing my own vegetables could be this simple. Thanks for the inspiration!"

[@PlantsAndInsects]

This is something that I do as well! Plus, I collect rain water and because most of my plants are in pots, I try to collect the run off as well. Then, I water my plants with the run off + compost teas :)

[@microsnook3]

I love your enthusiasm and encouragement. This channel is the best. Thank you

[@VinayDutta-kw5yj]

Thanks for this knowledge. From India

[@susanolds8097]

Thanks Ben for another cheery informative video ❤xx

[@markvincent5241]

Brilliant stuff Ben, fantastic way to get something back from those pesky weeds.

[@GrowVeg]

Absolutely :-)

[@philliplarking3255]

Thanks for this. I use whey in my compost tea - there's no bad smell - I do a continuous brew method, just add more water, comfrey, and whey (small amounts of whey) as I go.

[@GrowVeg]

Interesting! :-)

[@sosgardening]

Great content as usual. Over the past year i've seen so many videos talking about using weeds for compost or tea but none of them went into as much details as yourself describing what type of weeds are best for what. I am limited on space and I don't think my neighbours would like the smell of the tea but the last option you presented might be something I can at least try as I get so many weeds!!

[@zan4110]

Thanks..,! I have one brewing..but will start a comfrey one...like the idea of double container..!

[@miriamhansen9247]

We've been growing a vegetable garden in pretty much the same area, for 23 years. We used to rotate meat chickens every other year and that worked very well to keep fertiity up, along with compost we made ourselves. But we're done raising chickens, so I've been experimenting with laying kitchen waste directly on cleaned out garden beds, layering that with hosta, peony, epimedium and brassica leaves and then laying weeds with some soil on their roots on top of that. My hope is that by spring, the layers will have rotted down and we can just sprinkle our home made compost on top and plant directly in that. Sheet composting without cardboard or newspaper!

[@GrowVeg]

I reckon that might well work - and it should save a bit of time too. :-)

[@mariahsmom9457]

Brilliant idea. I am going to do this tomorrow. Good use for old buckets.

[@lindacode4869]

Many of my weeds go through the donkeys first, but I'm going to try the comfrey bucket squish. Thanks!

[@aaronschmidt9753]

I just did this yesterday, totally winging it. Stacking functions for the win!

[@marieprescott9168]

Really enjoyed your tutorial on gardening. We have been trying container gardening because our tractor has quit on us and we haven’t figured out what’s wrong with it yet. We can’t seem to get our fertilizing right. We are using old plastic culverts cut in half and sealed ends. How do you figure the fertilizer for them? We are about to give it up if we can’t make something this coming spring. It’s a lot of money wasted when you don’t yield hardly any harvest at all or even any at all. Thank you for your time.

[@GrowVeg]

I use a good-quality potting soil as a starting point. To this I would potentially mix in a little organic fertiliser - something like blood, fish and bone - to serve as a slow-release source of nutrients. For fruiting veggies like tomatoes you could also apply a high-potassium liquid feed as plants start to fruit, to support that growth. I just use a general-purpose tomato feed, as well as this feed from weeds.

[@bradymcphail9690]

Ben, fantastic information my friend. I will be doing every aspect of this video in my garden. Thank you

[@Lorraine-p1b]

So good to find this you tube. Never thought of this and if you read Bob Flowerdew companion planting the minerals and goodness weeds have is incredible and why it's good to know how to make fertiliser. Bindweed growing up a pole gives lovely strong stems for tying up plants or sticks.

[@GrowVeg]

Great idea to use bindweed like this. :-)

[@winnyputeri9872]

Ben! I love this video....so greeny and back to soil ( so useful )🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤🌼🌻🌱🌸💐🌹🍄💮🌺🕊️🕊️🕊️

[@CynthiaJKress]

I’ve really enjoyed your informative video, Ben. Keep up the awesome work you’re doing. It helps so very many of us! cjk in the U.S.😊

[@silverdragoneyes]

I didn't expect you to use the word 'ripe' to describe the smell of the compost tea. That's a very nice word to use, almost flattering lol.

[@Detour4it]

I dumped synthetics a long time ago. Miracle grow is the worse. Enjoyed .... always enjoy your channel. Today's show was very informative 👌 👍. Cheers from across the pond.

[@GrowVeg]

Thank you! :-)

[@VK-qo1gm]

I strain the tea each time i want to dilute some with water, & before watering the garden. This helps to keep out seeds, etc

[@GrowVeg]

Great tip!

[@frostamatus]

I would advise against chop & drop if you don't know what plants you're doing that with, because you can spread insects & fungi that could harm your plants. Any plant material that is damaged (or when it rots under the plant) can introduce the same issue into the plant you are feeding. Also it may root & grow if it's too vigorous of a weed. Best to let them rot in a bucket of water, then dig a hole, pour the bucket in a hole, cover it with dirt, & plant there. Works best with plants in the same genus.

[@stephenhope7319]

I heard some years ago that the best weeds to use in making "tea" are the fastest growing ones, nettles, dandelions and the like because they grow so fast that have the most nutrients to give up to a "tea". Sounds good but I just do as you first suggested, mix and match my weeds as I collect them. I have been making fertilizer "tea" for years and I also only use collected rain water. Thanks Ben. I will also give the dry method a whirl later this month.

[@GrowVeg]

Sounds good!

[@monettemichaels8420]

What kind of nettles? The nettles I deal with in the midwest in the US are borderline invasive. I barely stay ahead of them. Since they are perennial and spread by both rhizomes and seed, they would not be a good option to chop and drop, correct? I do chop and drop in areas that don't have the nettles (or Canadian Thistle). Thanks. I love your videos.

[@GrowVeg]

Don't let them flower - chop and drop the leafy growth before this. :-)

[@monettemichaels8420]

@@GrowVeg Thank you.

[@AncientHippie]

I usually weed my gardens the day before I cut my grass. Pick the weeds throw (seedless) on the lawn and cut.

[@GrowVeg]

What a great idea! :-)

[@carloschi]

Thanks Ben!! Instead of comfrey or alkanet, which I don't have in my allotment, would borage have a similar effect?

[@CWorgen5732]

I've heard it does

[@GrowVeg]

Yes, I reckon that would be a great swop for comfrey.

[@angelikastegmann7663]

I’m making comfrey and stinging nettle liquid fertilizer for over 40 years. When it starts to stink I sprinkle some rock phosphate over it and the stink is gone.

[@GrowVeg]

Great Tip - thank you!

[@SteveOfTheUSA]

Stinging nettle both a fertilizer and pesticide

[@justgrowpeaceoff]

This is amazing 💜☮️Thank you so much! I will be doing something like this for sure, I look forward to playing with this concept in future gardening…. One idea, perhaps a sort of “cut down as you go” meaning to cut down the larger parts as you weed, keeping the cuttings bucket with you as you go, hopefully makes sense. Off subject but some stuff can also be used in making cordage, was going to rip out daylily but for cordage it has now earned it’s stay. Please take care and have good days 💜☮️🌸🌻Happy gardening

[@GrowVeg]

What a great way to use plants, as cordage. Very resourceful! :-)

[@kodiak1984]

I always have weeds in the garden, this is a great way to reuse them. With the tea and concentrate, could you also include some kitchen scraps, such as banana peels, and/or other garden waste such as greens from onions or pruned tomato stems/leaves?

[@GrowVeg]

Yes, you could potentially add any 'clean', disease-free scraps also. :-)

[@juliehartley3652]

Great tips on making good use of weeds, thank you.

[@markw5779]

Nice one Ben,there really is no need to buy synthetic fertilisers, everything is provided for us through nature 👍

[@karlbartz6546]

I've heard that if it smells bad it probably is. I recommend looking into aerated compost tea and keeping your weeds for composting or chop and drop. Beneficial bacteria needs oxygen to thrive and out compete bad bacteria which is mostly anaerobic. I like to dehydrate certain plants that are high in nutrients and adding that to my aerated compost teas. Feed and grow the Soil Food Web and it'll take care of itself and your garden!

[@ZomBearfoot]

I use pond water, my cows use it too...for everything. Cows are gross but the plants are happy.

[@natedizzy]

Thank you! Always great content and uplifting 👏 🎉

[@GrowVeg]

You are so welcome! :-)

[@LifeHomeandGardenwithAnaRica]

This is a great way to garden, making use of what we have. Thank you

[@JO-zu3mz]

Been doing this since last year and will definitely try out the less pungent method for the vuchet closest to the house 😂

[@bryanglennon6841]

Off topic. Can powdery mildew be mistaken for anything else on peas? And if it is PM, can I still save the dried peas for planting next test? Best wishes for Denmark Bryan

[@GrowVeg]

Powdery mildew loves hot damp weather unfortunately. If you have it but have peas ready in the pods, they should still be fine to eat and use as seed.

[@jiangtao2990]

hi thank you so much for your wonderful videos! i want to turn weeds to liquid fertilisers, but am a bit afraid of weed seedsamong them. How long should I drown them to kill the seeds?

[@GrowVeg]

I would avoid including weed seeds if you can, in case they survive. I would think they would need to be submerged for a couple of months to guarantee they are killed off.

[@FloralSmith-u7k]

Great idea! Thank you.

[@1twilight9]

Excellent, natural fertilizer, Thanks!

[@janicealderson4329]

They are all over my place - I try to chop and drop and I like the way U do it - lots of mossies are biting me at present and so hot - so loads of weeeeds! Canning tomatoes for sauce at present need 10 crates for this! Can U nimix them with comfrey Ben? I like to chop comfrey with gloves and then use my hands to tear up - as they love the comfrey.

[@GrowVeg]

You can certainly add it to your comfrey - great idea!

[@goldenfd475]

I have a number of comfrey plants on my allotment and Once or twice when my potatoes are growing I chop the comfrey down and just lay it down in the bottom of the furrows. As I dig up the potatoes the soil covers the comfrey and in this way it gets incorporated into the soil for next years crop.

[@GrowVeg]

Great tip! :-)

[@trapped7534]

Thank you Ben!!!! What a great idea!!! Be blessed ❣️

[@bewoodford2807]

Brilliant!Thank you. Happy gardening 🙂

[@AndyMaden]

Hello, I made a weed fertilizer tea with Borage plants and tomatoes leaves 5 weeks ago. It is very 😷 but looking good. I was wondering if it is a good combination for all purposes fertilizer on veggs and flowers plants too.

[@GrowVeg]

It could well be. Generally, the wider the variety of plants that go into it, the broader/more balanced the tea may well be.

[@AndyMaden]

​@@GrowVeg. In the same 10 ltr bucket I added a little bit of fish, blood and bone powder. It works very well and my plants love me 😂.

[@FulaMediaLife]

Thanks for advices. Great video.

[@MrCrabGoesWild]

My weed batch is going for pass 5 years!! I just top it up with new material,it will get better as it ages. U can add anything organic into it.

[@gingerkissed]

Looks like Ben has a wedding anniversary coming up in a couple days. Happy anniversary!

[@shootytheturtle]

Weeding anniversary?

[@GrowVeg]

Very good! :-)

[@GrowVeg]

@gingerkissed Well spotted and thanks so much! :-)

[@gumbytwofourtwo5145]

I'm trying for the 1st time with just regular lawn clipping for my fruit trees

[@nidge2822]

I always use comfry tea ,I have a big blue water barrel with a tap on I fill it up with comfry and collect the dark brown liquid ,I don't add water to this one just the leaves and stalk. My other barrel is the same but I fill it with water and steep the comfry 😊 a little smelly on both accounts but pure goodness 😊

[@GrowVeg]

You must have happy plants! :-)

[@kingskid4804]

Lots of useful information..thanks 👌 ❤

[@valoriegriego5212]

There's nothing like free fertilize that works great!😃

[@GrowVeg]

Definitely! :-)

[@spiritkid44]

What brand are those long gloves you use?! They look fantastic Love the info you gave as well!

[@GrowVeg]

They are just 'Amazon Basics' gloves. You're looking for something like this: www.amazon.co.uk/HANDLANDY-Gardening-Breathable-Durability-Gauntlet/dp/B079HVBP74/ref=sr_1_24?crid=1HT5EI15E4RN6&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.gn-wJNS2pbntKCpP6nUM9Wanu9vKIA2hlABS5PbqiEDFvtV6O-S1tuOwGSNkVMKFHwDQ8WRlcopgSEXgoPFuLAs7g_X4_Zz0c7YfIJYotYDbkRykDtOmcjpfjikcwmmbwYOdhZMOf28txrLLqi3f1zzvbxPmEO2pjLzQXiRbWCrUJ97LdpFTaKEIATd6ILvI1EzDMV3ldF-MvrZ3wfV2WgcoOHGxshr3r-AzP2CL-pcAvoTC17DNyIDBQG-qnJyBahoddWHOTVFpC-6GMddovXnXiBeaXp5ZOHo-eKuFPNM.APjAfVg1FRq3sTzVpjp9OKb0QYiqlKs4MzwLTUOL55w&dib_tag=se&keywords=long%2Bgardening%2Bgloves&qid=1725966606&sprefix=long%2Bgardening%2Bglove%2Caps%2C110&sr=8-24&th=1

[@ljubicalazarevic1523]

I know it's a weed tea, but can i stick other plant leaves in there? E.g. courgettes, nasturtiums etc? Also, are there any weeds that are a no-no? I have much bramble...

[@GrowVeg]

I think you can stick anything that's clean and disease-free in there. But I would stick to 'soft' and fleshy foliage, which is more likely to break down quickly and perhaps have more nutrients.

[@irmar]

@@GrowVeg You could put kitchen trimmings through a blender and pour that pureed thing into the compost/tea.

[@imaginativeusername4732]

Excellent video. Thanks!

[@mr.mrs.d.7015]

My compost heap never makes that beautiful soil you get. Its always either too wet or big chunks that dont break down. Do you have any videos on that please?

[@GrowVeg]

Yes - it is all about the balance of materials: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lXyVZoqgn6h1q9k

[@stewartmoore]

Thanks Ben. That was fantastic and very educational !

[@Bolinas1906]

This is great ! I have been using Nigel Palmers recipes but he uses brown sugar for his concentrated version. I prefer your method. Are there any weed species, you do not recommend?

[@GrowVeg]

I think any weeds are fine so long as they are completely killed off/drowned. You wouldn't want fragments of pernicious perennial weeds to survive and then become established.

[@jonnnney]

I like the concentrate a lot better than the weed tea. One thing I will probably add though is wood char in the bottom so I can charge up my biochar rather than create fertilizer. Biochar makes a weak chemical bond with nutrients so that plants can get at the nutrient in the soil but water doesn't wash them away

[@babyroot3479]

I have lots of mullein growing everywhere. Would that also work for this?

[@CWorgen5732]

I've heard that you can.

[@anoobiscooking1193]

Does it work if its just weeds ie grass? And is it a good fertilizer for vegs n fruits? If i do not hv compost can i just leave the weeds in water? Same effect? Sorry i just started to do this... zero experience.

[@GrowVeg]

Yes, a good mix of leaves from different plants should have the same effect as using weeds - you're just releasing the nutrients from the leaves into the water, which can then be used to apply to other plants. :-)

[@gryfek6751]

Can I use this for my cactuses?(I am asking because I have heard that they need some specific fertilizer)(also thanks for the video!)

[@GrowVeg]

The weed teas are great general-purpose feeds for in-ground plants. I'm not sure if this would be suitable for cacti grown in containers, so would probably err on the side of caution and use a specific feed for these types of plants.

[@phoephoe795]

Rhubarb leaves are also brilliant for this

[@grahamditchfield4318]

Love your video. You have a very soothing presence that eases the learning process. Beware of the CO 2 police in your area. I understand they can be quite the problem.

[@carvalhofarmgoa4050]

❤

[@carvalhofarmgoa4050]

❤

[@4reallifeplanning]

Can you store this in the greenhouse over the winter? Just the water without the weeds in it. And could you use it during the later winter months to help prep the soil?

[@CWorgen5732]

I dunno about the first part, but as for the part about prepping the soil... in autumn/ winter, put the chopped plants onto the soil and top with a little more soil. The nutrients AND organic matter will be churned in by critters and microorganisms all winter long. Soil will be ready to go, especially if you add compost at some point.

[@GrowVeg]

I'm not convinced it's good to keep these teas any longer than about two months. But you could certainly store the concentrate in a bottle for longer - up to a year, in a cool, dark place.

[@evedestructionbroadcasting9447]

Thank you. Much love

[@jeffreylee7613]

Do you put the comfrey in a sunny spot or dry cool place? For tea.

[@GrowVeg]

Its quite unfussy! A bit of sun will help it grow quicker. Happy Gardening!