Part 11: Liquid Feeds
Soil nutrition is such a huge part of growing successfully. Once your veg has been growing for a couple of weeks you will have some hungry plants that require more feed to keep them thriving. Liquid feeds are a brilliant emergency feed to use to make soil healthier and give your plants more life.
Actions
How to Make Liquid Feed
- Use a bucket that can hold at least 10 litres of water
- Get your feed and push down to the bottom which should take up around 1/3 of your bucket
- Add 10 litres of water or until bucket is full
- Cover with lid and keep it weighted down
- Leave feed for about 1 month
- You should be left with a black coloured liquid feed that you can dilute 1 part feed to 10 parts water for an amazingly nutritious feed for your veg
How to Feed
- Add 1 part feed to 10 parts water
- Water at base of plants in the raised beds and avoid getting feed onto the leaves
- Feed containers regularly (around every 2 – 3 weeks)
Top Tips
Plants constantly need nitrogen but be careful not to overdo it as this can result in much larger plants in much smaller quantities
Comfrey
- It is high in potassium so ideal for fruit plants such as tomatoes or courgettes
- You can let comfrey rot down and use as a mulch in your soil
Nettles
- Very high in nitrogen so ideal for all plants
Seaweed
- In the winter put the seaweed on top of the beds and let it rot down and let it release its nutrients down onto the soil for the next couple of months
Helpful Resources
- Watch back on earlier episodes of How Food Grows
- Explore individual veg in more detail at GIY Veg Directory
- Join the GIYers Facebook group to ask and answer questions with fellow growers around Ireland and the world.
GIY.ie is grateful for the support of our Growth Fund partners Social Innovation Fund Ireland and The Department of Rural & Community Development, whose funding has enabled us to promote and disseminate this online course, engaging thousands of people in How Food Grows.
