Hi there tcs1366,
I, too, grow Empress Wu and 35 other cultivars of hosta... even further north in Manitoba (zone 2b-3a). It grows slowly here but by year 3 she was starting to show nicely. As for the alfalfa, I have a large plastic green garbage can that I use when making the "tea" for my green "kids". I found that when I used just the pellets in my garden I was attracting rabbits and deer. Now I use the garbage can and ferment the tea with some iron, fish emulsion, and epsom salts... it stinks a bit but the rabbits and deer do not like the smell of the fish emulsion (mind you, beagles and cats seem to like it).
Here is the recipe I use:
16 cups of alfalfa pellets (2 coffee cans worth) in a 55 gallon can filled with water (allowing about 8 inches for the pellets to expand). After 2 days in the heat, add 1 cup of fish emulsion, 1 cup of Epsom salt, and 1/4 cup of chelated iron powder. Mix and then add to base of plants. I do this in early spring and at the beginning of July. The beautiful thing about this "tea" is that it does not burn my irises or other plants even in the scorching Prairie summer heat waves.
Best of luck,
Sarah from Manitoba
