Comfry as fertilizer - am I doing this right??

[Jules]

We have three huge comfry bushes in the garden. I can't bear the stuff but the bees like it, which we need for pollenating, so have reluctantly decided to keep at least some of it.

We tried to dig one of the bushes up but the roots go to the centre of the earth it seems and I can't get rid of it.

We cut some of the leaves off and put them in a huge container with some water at the bottom of the garden to rot down. We have covered it with a towel. Now, does anyone know if this will make a good fertilizer? Has anyone tried this?

Any tips with this would be appreciated..

[John Headstrong]

comfrey is very hard to get rid of, it will grow from small bits of root but is great plant food.

what you have done is right, the liquid will start to smell, then you know it is ready.

I have an area that is bit of a trench and was just mint, nettles and ground elder, I have now planted comfey in. it is great for composting has well.


there is a article on the main site about it.

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/index. ... -feed-food

and other information http://www.allotment.org.uk/vegetable/comfrey/index.php

[ina]

I wish my comfrey did as well as that - finding it very hard to establish it! The deep roots are the reason why it is so valuable; it reaches depths other plants can't reach, and gets at nutrients that way that others lack.

Get yourself some goats. It's perfect food for them (and they are the reason why I'd love to get it to grow properly in my garden).

[Ellendra]

Comfrey has healing properties for man and beast. I tried to order some but every seed catalog I tried was sold out.

Keep it, add it to your compost pile, feed the leaves to your chickens and rabbits. Or you could send me some root cuttings!

[Jules]

Would be more than happy to send you a root cutting.... are you very far from London?

[Ellendra]

Unfortunately yes, I'm in the US, I'm not sure what the rules are on plant cuttings, but I know they're a lot stricter than with seeds.

Ah well.