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What if those annoying weeds growing around your garden could actually become FREE fertilizer? Instead of throwing them away, you can put them to work and turn them into a simple, nutrient-rich garden boost.
In this video, you’ll discover an easy weed trick that can help you recycle unwanted garden plants and use them to support healthier soil and stronger plant growth. It’s inexpensive, practical, and a great way to make better use of materials you already have around your garden.
🌿 In this video, you’ll learn:
• How weeds can be reused in the garden
• A simple method for turning weeds into homemade fertilizer
• How to prepare and use it properly
• Common mistakes gardeners should avoid
• Which weeds you may want to keep out of your homemade fertilizer
• Tips for improving your soil naturally
• How to reduce your dependence on expensive store-bought fertilizers
Whether you’re growing tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, herbs, flowers, or other vegetables, this simple gardening technique could help you save money while making use of something most gardeners normally throw away.
⚠️ Not ev
What if those annoying weeds growing around your garden could actually become FREE fertilizer? Instead of throwing them away, you can put them to work and turn them into a simple, nutrient-rich garden boost.
In this video, you’ll discover an easy weed trick that can help you recycle unwanted garden plants and use them to support healthier soil and stronger plant growth. It’s inexpensive, practical, and a great way to make better use of materials you already have around your garden.
🌿 In this video, you’ll learn:
• How weeds can be reused in the garden
• A simple method for turning weeds into homemade fertilizer
• How to prepare and use it properly
• Common mistakes gardeners should avoid
• Which weeds you may want to keep out of your homemade fertilizer
• Tips for improving your soil naturally
• How to reduce your dependence on expensive store-bought fertilizers
Whether you’re growing tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, herbs, flowers, or other vegetables, this simple gardening technique could help you save money while making use of something most gardeners normally throw away.
⚠️ Not ev
Category
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Every gardener on this earth spends a good part of his summer at war with the weeds,
00:05pulling them, hoeing them, cursing them a little under his breath,
00:09and then hauling them off to the trash or the burn pile to be rid of the nuisance.
00:14And all the while he is throwing away one of the finest free fertilizers there is.
00:20For those very weeds, the ones you are fighting so hard to be rid of,
00:24are packed full of good feeding, drawn up out of the deep soil by their strong, greedy roots,
00:31and with nothing but a bucket and a little water and two weeks of patience,
00:36you can turn that pile of pulled weeds into a rich, liquid feed for your garden that costs you not
00:43one cent.
00:44So today, I am going to show you the old way to make free fertilizer out of your weeds
00:49and turn your worst garden nuisance into your garden's best friend.
00:54My name is Elias Yoder, and I farm here in Lancaster County in Pennsylvania,
00:58and I love this one dearly, for it is thrift at its very finest,
01:03taking the thing you hate most in the garden, the weed you were about to throw away,
01:08and making it feed the very plants you were trying to protect from it.
01:13There is a fine justice in that, and a fine economy,
01:16and it is exactly the sort of nothing-wasted way the old people lived by.
01:22My grandfather kept an old barrel of this brew going behind the barn every summer of his life,
01:27and I remember as a boy being sent to fetch a can of it for the tomatoes,
01:32and holding my nose the whole long way, for the smell of it was something fearful.
01:37But I remember, too, his tomatoes, great heavy things, the envy of the whole district,
01:42and when a neighbor once asked him his secret,
01:45he just laughed and pointed at that reeking barrel of rotted weeds.
01:49The worst-smelling corner of his place grew the best eating food on it.
01:54I have never forgotten the lesson in that.
01:57Now I will tell you plainly, this brew is not the sweetest-smelling thing you will ever make,
02:02and I will warn you honestly about that before we are done.
02:05But it works, and it is free, and that covers a great many sins.
02:11Before I go on, I will say this once and then leave it be.
02:15I gathered the whole of it, all these old ways of growing your own food, into a book.
02:21You can find it at EliasYoder.com.
02:24The book is the long version.
02:26If you want it, it is there.
02:28I will not mention it again.
02:29Now let me tell you first why this even works, for it is a wonder when you think on it,
02:35and no magic at all, just plain nature.
02:38A weed is a plant that grows strong and fast and greedy.
02:42That is the whole nature of a weed.
02:44It is a survivor, sending its roots down deep and wide,
02:48and pulling up out of the soil all the goodness and minerals it can get,
02:52faster and harder than your tame garden plants do.
02:56That is exactly why it thrives where your vegetables struggle.
03:00So a weed, pulled up green and growing, is a plant fairly stuffed full of gathered feeding,
03:06all the goodness it robbed from your soil held right there in its leaves and stems.
03:12And when you steep that weed in water and let it break down,
03:15all that stored feeding leaches back out into the water,
03:19and you have caught it, all the richness the weed stole,
03:22now dissolved in a bucket, ready to give back to your garden.
03:26You are simply taking back what the weed took and handing it to your vegetables instead.
03:31That is the whole of it.
03:33And here is a fine thing about using weeds especially, beyond that they are free.
03:39Different weeds gather up different sorts of feeding,
03:42for they root at different depths and favor different minerals.
03:45So if you gather a good mix of many kinds of weeds,
03:49all sorts thrown in together,
03:51you get a well-rounded feed with a broad spread of all the different goodness a plant needs,
03:56rather than just the one thing.
03:59So do not be particular.
04:00Do not hunt for one special weed.
04:03The more different kinds you throw in,
04:06the richer and more complete your brew.
04:08Variety is the secret.
04:11Every weed in the garden is welcome in the bucket.
04:13So let me show you how it is made,
04:16and it could hardly be simpler.
04:17The first step is to gather your weeds.
04:20Go out and pull yourself a good big armful of weeds,
04:24all the different kinds you can find,
04:27and here I must give you the first of my two honest cautions.
04:31So mark it well,
04:32for the source of many a gardener's grief is right here.
04:37Gather your weeds young and green,
04:40before they have gone to seed.
04:42Do not, whatever you do,
04:45throw weeds that are covered in ripe seed heads into your bucket.
04:49For here is the trouble.
04:51Those seeds may well come through the whole brewing alive,
04:57and then you will pour your lovely fertilizer onto your beds
05:01and sow a fresh crop of weeds right along with it,
05:06and curse me for it.
05:07So use young weeds before they seed,
05:11or, if you must use ones that have seeded,
05:15know that a good long soaking,
05:17the full time or longer,
05:19is needed to be sure those seeds are drowned dead.
05:24When in doubt, pull them young.
05:26That is the safest way by far.
05:30Once you have your arm full of weeds,
05:32chop them up, roughly, into smaller pieces.
05:35For chopping breaks them up and lets them rot down faster in the water
05:41and give up their goodness quicker.
05:43You need not be fussy.
05:45Just hack them up a bit with a spade or shears.
05:49Now, here is a handy way to save yourself trouble later.
05:53Take an old pillowcase or a bit of mesh or net cloth or any old cloth sack
06:00and pack your chopped weeds into it to make a pouch and tie the top.
06:06This is not needful.
06:08You can just throw the loose weeds straight into the water if you like.
06:12But the pouch saves you a messy job at the end,
06:16for when the brewing is done,
06:18you simply lift out the whole pouch, weeds and all, in one go,
06:23instead of having to strain a bucket of stinking green slop.
06:27So the pouch is worth the small trouble.
06:31And before you tie it up,
06:33if you have got a bit of bone meal,
06:35that old ground bone that gardeners have used forever,
06:38toss a handful into the pouch along with the weeds,
06:42for it adds its own good feeding to the brew,
06:46the particular kind that helps a plant root well and flower and fruit well.
06:53A handful of bone meal is a fine addition,
06:56though the brew is good without it, too.
06:59The second step is the brewing,
07:02and it is mostly just waiting.
07:05Take a five-gallon bucket and fill it with water,
07:08and here is a point that matters more than you would think.
07:13Use rainwater if you have it,
07:15caught off your roof,
07:17or well water,
07:18rather than the treated water from the town tap.
07:21For the town water has chlorine in it,
07:25put there to kill germs,
07:26and that is fine for drinking,
07:28but this whole brew works by the labor of tiny living things,
07:34little unseen creatures and microbes
07:36that break the weeds down and unlock their feeding,
07:41and that chlorine in the town water will kill off those very helpers
07:46and slow your whole brew.
07:49So catch some rainwater in a barrel,
07:51which I am always after you to do anyhow,
07:55or use your well,
07:56and your brew will work far better for it.
08:00Another small reason to catch the rain.
08:02So you fill your bucket with the good water,
08:06sink your pouch of weeds and bone meal down into it,
08:10make sure it is well submerged,
08:12and put the lid on the bucket.
08:15And that lid brings me to my second honest caution,
08:19the one about the smell,
08:21and I will not soften it for you.
08:23This brew,
08:25as the weeds rot down in the water over the coming days,
08:29is going to stink.
08:31And I do not mean a mild barnyard smell,
08:35I mean a powerful, rotten, evil reek,
08:39like something crawled in and died,
08:42strong enough to turn your stomach when you lift that lid.
08:47It is perfectly natural,
08:49it is just the weeds breaking down,
08:51and it does no harm,
08:53but it is genuinely foul.
08:56So set your bucket well away from the house,
08:59downwind,
09:01off in a far corner of the yard,
09:03where nobody will be bothered by it,
09:05and keep that lid on tight between times.
09:09Warn your family.
09:11Do not,
09:12and I speak from the wisdom of experience,
09:15set it brewing right outside the kitchen window,
09:18well away and downwind.
09:22Remember that,
09:23and it will save you grief.
09:25Then you simply let it sit and brew for about two weeks.
09:30Through those two weeks,
09:32the weeds slowly break down in the water,
09:34and all their gathered goodness leaches out into it,
09:38until the water turns dark and rich,
09:41and yes,
09:42powerfully smelly.
09:43And that dark stinking water is your finished weed tea,
09:48full of feeding and ready to use.
09:51After the two weeks,
09:53you lift out your pouch of spent weeds,
09:56and there is no waste even here,
09:58for those broken down weeds go straight onto your compost pile
10:02to finish rotting down,
10:04nothing thrown away.
10:06And if you did not use a pouch,
10:08you strain the loose weeds out through a bit of cloth.
10:12What is left in the bucket,
10:14that dark rich liquid,
10:16is your fertilizer.
10:18Now here is the one step you must not skip,
10:22or you will do more harm than good.
10:25That weed tea is strong,
10:27far too strong to use straight,
10:30and if you pour it on your plants full strength,
10:33it will be too much for them,
10:35and can burn them and do them harm.
10:37So you must dilute it,
10:39water it down well before you use it.
10:43The old rule is about one part of your strong tea
10:46to ten parts of plain water.
10:49So you dip out a bit of the tea,
10:52and add ten times as much water to it,
10:55until it is the pale, weak color of a weak cup of tea,
10:59no darker.
11:01Weak tea color.
11:02That is the mark to aim for.
11:05Better too weak than too strong, always,
11:09for a weak feed does only good,
11:12and a strong one can burn.
11:14So dilute it right down,
11:16one to ten,
11:18and then you take that watered-down brew,
11:20and you pour it onto the soil around your plants,
11:24at their roots,
11:25giving them a fine, rich drink of feeding.
11:28On to the soil, mind,
11:31at the base,
11:32not splashed all over the leaves.
11:35And that is the whole of it.
11:37From a bucket of pulled weeds
11:39you were going to throw away,
11:41two weeks and a little water later,
11:44comes a rich, free feeding
11:46for your whole garden,
11:48as good as anything you could buy in a bottle,
11:51and costing you nothing at all
11:53but the pulling you were going to do anyhow.
11:56Now, I will tell you,
11:58this same simple trick
11:59works with far more than just weeds,
12:02and once you have the way of it,
12:04you will use it all over.
12:06The very best plants of all for this brew,
12:10if you have them,
12:11are comfrey and stinging nettle,
12:14two plants so rich in feeding
12:17that gardeners grow them on purpose
12:19just to make this tea,
12:21and a brew of pure comfrey or nettle
12:24is richer than any weed.
12:27And the same steeping works
12:29with a sack of good rotted manure
12:31sunk in a bucket of water
12:33to make the manure tea
12:35I have spoken of in other videos
12:37for feeding your hungry crops.
12:40Weeds, comfrey, nettle, manure.
12:44It is all the same old method.
12:47Steep it in water,
12:49dilute it down,
12:49and feed it to your garden,
12:52catching for free
12:53the goodness that is all around you.
12:57Let me say a plain word
12:59about who profits from you
13:01not knowing this,
13:02and it is no dark scheme.
13:05Liquid plant food
13:06is sold in bottles
13:08at the garden store,
13:09bright-colored bottles
13:11with fine promises on them,
13:13and folks pay dear for them
13:15and buy them again and again
13:17all season.
13:18And there is no money at all
13:20in a man learning
13:22that the weeds he pulls
13:23from his own garden,
13:25soaked in a bucket
13:26of caught rainwater,
13:28make a feeding just as good
13:30for nothing.
13:32Nobody earns a wage
13:34teaching you
13:34that your worst weeds
13:36are free fertilizer.
13:37There is no bottle
13:39to sell in it.
13:40So the plain old knowledge
13:42that the weed
13:43and the water
13:44and a little patience
13:45are all you need
13:47slips quietly away,
13:49and folks haul their weeds
13:51to the trash of a morning
13:52and then drive
13:54to the store
13:54of an afternoon
13:55to buy a bottle
13:57of plant food,
13:57when the two things
13:59are near the very same.
14:02It is not hidden from you.
14:04It is only never taught,
14:06for your weed bucket
14:08is the store's steady loss.
14:11The money runs
14:12toward the bright bottle
14:14on the shelf
14:14and away from the weeds
14:16in your own hand,
14:17and it always has.
14:20So there is the whole of it.
14:22Gather a good mix
14:24of many kinds of weeds,
14:26young and before they seed.
14:29Chop them,
14:30pack them in an old cloth pouch
14:32with a handful of bone meal
14:34if you have it,
14:35and sink them in a bucket
14:36of caught rainwater
14:38or well water,
14:39never the chlorinated town tap.
14:42Put the lid on,
14:43set it well away
14:44from the house
14:45and downwind,
14:46for it will stink powerfully,
14:48and let it brew two weeks.
14:50Then lift out the spent weeds
14:52to your compost,
14:53dilute the dark tea
14:55down to a weak tea color,
14:57one part to ten,
14:58and pour it on the soil
15:00around your plants.
15:01Do that,
15:02and you will feed
15:03your whole garden for free
15:04off the very weeds
15:06you were fighting,
15:07and never look at a weed
15:08quite the same way again.
15:11Tell me down in the comments
15:12what county you garden in,
15:14and whether you have
15:15ever made a weed tea
15:16or a comfrey or nettle brew,
15:19and how it served your plants,
15:20for I would dearly love to know.
15:23And if your own family
15:24had an old recipe
15:26for a garden brew like this,
15:28some particular weed
15:29or mix they swore by,
15:31share it down there,
15:32for those old feeding recipes
15:34are just the sort of knowledge
15:36worth keeping alive.
15:37Next time out here,
15:39I want to show you
15:39how to build a proper
15:40compost pile the old way,
15:43layer upon layer,
15:44for the weed tea
15:46and the compost pile
15:47are close kin,
15:49both of them taking
15:50what you would have thrown away
15:51and turning it back
15:53into feeding for your garden.
15:54And the spent weeds
15:56from this very brew
15:57go right onto that pile.
15:59It is the foundation
16:01under all of it,
16:02and it is past time
16:03I showed you.
16:04But for now,
16:06remember this.
16:07There is no such thing
16:09as a useless thing
16:10on a well-run place,
16:12not even a weed.
16:14The very plant you curse
16:16and pull and fight
16:17all summer long
16:18is,
16:19if you only know the trick,
16:21a bucket of free feeding
16:22for the vegetables you love.
16:25Nature wastes nothing,
16:27and neither should we,
16:28for the weed and the crop
16:30and the compost and the rain
16:32are all part of the one
16:34great turning circle,
16:36everything feeding everything else,
16:39nothing lost.
16:41The people who built this country
16:42with their hands knew that,
16:44and we are only just starting
16:46to remember it.
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