Courgettes, Nettles And Comfrey

Courgettes

Dirty Nails has planted out his courgettes this week. They had been put outside for a few days beforehand with protection at night. The young plants were filling their 3 inch (8 cm) pots and showing three or four true leaves.

Dirty Nails plants his courgettes in holes 2 feet (60 cm) apart with a dollop of compost at the bottom. He carefully holds the pots with his fingers, supporting the stem at pot-rim level, and turns them upside-down. A couple of taps on the bottom releases the plant, and the root-balls can be popped easily into the holes. He firms the soil around each one, gently. These are thirsty plants and to make watering easier and less wasteful, Dirty Nails earths up a little ridge of soil to form a ring around each courgette plant. This stops water from running away and is especially helpful if the vegetables are grown on sloping ground.

Nettles and comfrey

Elsewhere on the plot Dirty Nails has an old wormery bin which he is regularly topping up with freshly cut stinging nettle and comfrey leaves. As these ferment within, the resulting juice they produce gathers at the bottom. This is a highly potent and traditional plant food. The tincture is strained off as and when needed. A cupful stirred into a 2 gallon watering can will be a real boost for those newly planted out courgettes. Dirty Nails gives all his veg regular nettle and comfrey feeds once they are past the tender seedling stage.

Natural History In The Garden: Leaves

Everywhere is turning different shades of green as buds burst out on trees, leaves unfold and stretch themselves. Each leaf is like an individual solar panel, absorbing sunlight energy and using it to convert carbon dioxide in the air and water into growth-enabling carbohydrates. This is a process called photosynthesis and the by-product is oxygen, which is essential to life itself.

Vegetable Snippets: More About Comfrey

Bocking 14 is a sterile form of comfrey. As it does not go to seed, there is no risk of it spreading wildly and taking over the veg plot. However it regenerates easily from portions of root, so care must be exercised to avoid spreading fragments to places where they are not wanted (the compost heap, for example) when digging in the area of this plant.

Comfrey tincture is especially high in potassium (K). This important nutrient is an essential ingredient for veggies that flower, set seed, or fruit, such as tomatoes and courgettes. Farmyard manure (FYM) is an alternative source of K, but comfrey is a much richer source, two or three times so. One reason for this is that the extensive roots plunge down deep into the soil, and can access nutrient reserves which would otherwise be out of bounds. Dredged up thus, nutrients are transferred into the leaves and are then made available in the soil when the leaves decompose.