Susan W
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Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 2:46 pm
Location: Memphis, TN

Comfrey

Anyone else growing and using comfrey? I'm back to trying to remember to add shredded green leaves to the dirt mix when I plant. Having organic stuff in the mix is good, and as it breaks down adds nutrients. I need to harvest a mess and dry the leaves. I spread the leaves out on the plastic mesh flat tray out of rain and let dry. They can then be crumbled, added in to soil when planting or just freshening.

I usually don't mulch the dirt in the large containers, especially if whatever plant is prone to slugs. Ugh! I know, some use grass clippings, but mine stay in the grass when using the mulcher-mower. I am thinking about mixing the cotton burr compost or other fine shredded (aged) wood chips with dried comfrey for a thin layer on the soil.

j3707
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Posts: 306
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:11 pm
Location: Pacific Northwest, Zone 8, 48" annual rainfall, dry summers.

I do use it, but only as a mulch.

Taiji
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Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2012 3:19 am
Location: Gardening in western U.P. of MI. 46+ N. lat. elev 1540. zone 3; state bird: mosquito

I recently bought some comfrey roots and they're growing really well. I'm just going to use it as mulch too, but at the end of the season I will spade them into the soil. I've never grown it before; my mom used to grow it in her garden.

I suspect I will never have to buy any ever again!

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!potatoes!
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Posts: 1938
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:13 pm
Location: wnc - zones 6/7 line

I've got quite a few plants, and divide out more whenever I easily can. I mostly use it as a mulch - especially chopped and used as a green layer between browns - sort of a in-place-composting mulch. times in the past when I had more than I could handle otherwise I also packed 5 gallon buckets full of chopped leaves and stems, covered them, and let them just stew down on their own. the resulting black liquid is a great fertilizer, even diluted quite a bit.

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rainbowgardener
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Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

In the past, I mostly used it as an accelerator in the compost pile. Don't have any started here yet, but it is high on my wish list!

imafan26
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Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

We use it mainly for the compost pile. I would rather use pine needles for mulch.

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ID jit
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Posts: 339
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 10:00 am
Location: SE New England: zone twilight or 5b... hard for me to tell some days.

I've basically been reading my way through this site one thread at a time. The search fucntion is still a mystery, but so is most of my smart phone.

What I have read here and several sites like this one: https://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/garden/comfrey-power, has me pretty convinced that I should be growing this stuff some where. Big question is which variety is best and then which variety is best for the space I am thinking about putting it in.

Have this sort of problem area, receives full sun for about half the day in the summer and shaded /indirect sun in the early morning and in the later part of the afternoon. So it gets the hot sun. The are is a subtle drop of into a wetlands area which usually fills with srcub and weeds. Tried planting a bunch of extra siberian iris and tiger lillies there and the sort of took, but the soil quality is rather poor. The area is also low on the priority list and receives on the leftover / extra much and compost I have, which isn't usually much. Mostly what I am looking to accomplish is to suppress the weeds and make a smooth transition into the trees in the wetlands area.

Was hoping the iris and lillies would self propogate a bit and sort of back fill where I planted them. This hasn't really happened.

99.99% sure that the lack of propogation and the failures of "wild flower" seeds and "wild flower" mats I put in there is the soil, or lack there of. the "soil" is pretty much a very thin layer of top soil with over many many feet of basically sandy gravel (little to no clay and silt glacial till). Area drains like you would not believe, and we have near drought and drought conditoins here in the mid late summer more and more often. When I planted the iris and lillies, I dug 12" X 12" holes, filed with mulchy compost and planted the root/bulb clusters thingies in the compost. Thinking that the compost is the only reason they have survived at all.

This is where I would like to drop the Comfrey, behind the tiger lillies which are behind the siberian iris. Not much for nutrient in the "soil", maximum drainage of what water it does see... seems easy to draw an analogy to buying a first class ticket on the the fail train.

Half thought out and half researched plan:

Was just introduce to the concept of hugelkultur which I am still investigating. Green, dried and somewhat decomposed 2" - 8" diameter branches I have easy access too, along with many other types of woody things in various states of solidness.

Is it feasible to dig a 2' wide shallow trench in the sandy gravel, fill with various trees parts which have found their way to the ground, some semi solid, some solid, add a good layer of "greens" on top of this, leaving some ventilation space by sort of over filling the trench with sticks and branches and not covering up the edges, then work a compost pile on top of this to the consistency of fine mulch, mix in a little of the sand (sifted from the light gravel form the trench) and then plant the comfrey in that?

If this a reasonably viable plan, which strain of comfrey should I be looking for for those conditions?

Thanks much.

estorms
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Posts: 263
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:04 am
Location: Greenfield Township, PA

Make sure you want it forever before you plant it. It spreads and the roots grow to the center of the earth. I would keep that plant in a pot or at the edge of a large property!



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