Spring gardening

 This morning I headed out to the gardens, and gathered Comfrey and borage leaves for a batch of  FPJ - Fermented Plant Juice. This is a pleasant (and less stinky!) way to use Comfrey  to enhance plant health in our gardens! 

 Comfrey and FPJ in Rose Cottage Garden

Welsh gardener Huw Richards gives this description on his YouTube tutorial on making and using FPJ for healthier plants and soil. 

"Fermented Plant Juice (or FPJ in short) is a method developed from Korean Natural Farming, to help get better yields using local and 100% natural materials.

"The whole goal in Korean Natural Farming is to use local resources to make mineral and biological amendments that not only improve results in the garden, but are kind to nature and helps close the waste gap in our modern culture."

Nettles, dandelions, mugwort, or nasturtium are also great options for making FPJ. Perennial plants are especially potent bioaccumulators. Look for young, fresh leaves, and don't rinse them. 

Comfrey and Borage leaves & sugar

Gather your chosen young leaves in early morning, break then up (twist by hand or chop, and squeeze) then mix with an equal weight of brown sugar. Pack the mix into a jar, cover with a layer of sugar, then use a stone you've boiled and allowed to cool as a weight.  Cap the jar with light cloth and rubber band (or piece of masking tape.

Be sure to label with date and plant used (painters tape!)

Store the jar at room temperature in a dark place for about a week, then strain through cloth/mesh into a smaller jar, and cap. Leave the cap a bit loose for a week, as it may continue to ferment - and be sure to label it! Store your finished FPJ a dark place, it is shelf stable.

A foliar feed is a great way to apply FPJ -  it's diluted ~ 1 part to 500 (spoonful in a gallon) and sprayed on leaves. 

When planting seeds, you can spritz the planting mix with your foliar feed, or add a drop of FPJ to soaking water for seeds before planting. Many seeds - especially those stored awhile, benefit from the 'wake up' message moisture brings. 

The sugar mimics exudates plants send into the soil, and young plant leaves contain plant hormones and enzymes. 

You can break up and bury the spent leaves in your compost -  or (depending on your plant matter) cover with water that's been boiled and cooled, and use a kombucha scoby to ferment for vinegar! Nettles would be a good choice for this! 

Growing Out The Box and Rogue Regenerative Agriculture have helpful tutorials on making and using on their channels. 

Do you use amendments from your own garden?

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