Liquid Feed for your veg

[mew]

Hi All

I was just wondering if I needed to give my veg plot a liquid feed? Everything seems to be doing well but just wondered what other folks did throughout the season and if there are any particular does and donts.

Thanks again

MEW :0)

[Millymollymandy]

That's dependant on a few things - first of all, did you fertilise the plot in the spring? If so, generally speaking, don't fertilise again now as it won't need it.

The kind of feed depends on the veg, e.g. leafy green things prefer nitrogen; toms, peppers etc (fruiting type veg) prefer potash.

However, if your soil is poor then your tomatoes etc will probably be happy to have a feed every fortnight or so, but wait until fruit has started to form before giving them a feed ('they' say feed after the 2nd truss has set).

I don't think that I will be feeding anything extra during the season because I've got a lot of rotted horse muck in my plot and it is already nitrogen rich (nettles adore it!).

[Thurston Garden]

I am making muck tea - top quality hen sh*t is put in a hessian bag and soaked in a bucket of water for a few days. This is then diluted and fed to the likes of onions and leeks.

I am making for the first time nettle 'tea' but I am sure others will be along with their more quantifiable methods of how to use it!

There is also a thread on peeing on veg. My onions are getting peed on as a wee trial!

[Cheezy]

I've made dandelion "ink". You crush the roots and leave to rot.

My god it's fearsome stuff.

The reasoning behind it is that the dandelion roots are deep and they take up a lot of the rarer nutrients and minerals. When I looked in the allotment book, there's a table with all the different liquid feeds from different plants, and dandelions win.

I also like the thought that weeds are feeding my plants

[ohareward]

Good one Cheezy. I like that idea too. What ratio roots to water do you use?

Robin

[Andy Hamilton]

I use some comfrey 'tea' on my potatoes and tomatoes. I grow comfrey for this reason alone. Fill a bin half full with comfrey leaves, add water or let the rain fill it up. THe best part is plunging a bottle into the bottom to get the liquid out. The stuff stinks to high heaven. Then use a ratio of about 1:10. I guestimate this as one glug to a 10L watering can.

[Cheezy]

To be honest I just filled a half gallon (4 litre)container about 1/3 of root and topped up with water, left it over winter, it has reduced by about half and really stinks of..... well very fresh s**t. It really is foul.

I probably only put 50 -100ml per can of water, other wise the whole place stinks. (like Andy a quick glug)

It's a really good way of focusing your mind to dig up all the dandelion root, and a good way to get rid of them. If I get time I'll put on here the elements you get from each plant.