Allotments 4 All

Does anyone know if its worth cultivating and using as a liquied feed i see most organic text books recommend it.
Are there any benefits?
No one on my site is using comfrey as yet so i have noone to ask.
I thought about growing some but have heard it can be rather invasive.
i would welcome any comments.

Cheers


Dave

I've tried filling a barrel with leaves and letting it stew, which produced lovely black smelly stuff. I'm all for it.

Comfrey is a great liquid feed .I grow a row on lotty and scythe tops off about 3 times a year.(before it flowers)These are put into a barrel of water with a lid on and left to ferment ,You could use a net to put it in before putting it in barrel...The plant does tend to spread a bit not as invasive as mint I just chop roots occasionally.The only prob with it if it is a prob is the aroma when you lift  the lid off the barrel to get some to water down for watering can..
You wouldn't want it  stood near your back door etc. But something that smells that good has got to be good for plants...cheers Jim

Yep, I'm a comfrey grower/user.  It's fairly easy to contain and it makes lovely free feed.

Edited to say, leave it long enough and it loses it's smell.

Thanks to all for your comments...seems like i will have to give it ago

Crikey :o didn't know its good for the skin too. not a veg but appears to be a very versitile addition to the plot.

Cheers

Dave

It is also good mixed with marshmallow ,Scalded allowed to cool a bit wrapped up in muslin or any old cloth  and used as a poultice for sprains and strains .I used to use it on my greyhounds and my whippets..Also have used it for  backache.. cheers Jim..

P.S. No I didn't use my cloth cap to wrap it in .That  was reserved for fetching my first earlies  home from lotty in.LOL ..  I better get that one in .I know some of You humourists on here ;D ;D ;D

I plant mine around the compost heap, where it's roots can take up any nutrients that are washed down from the compost.  Close to the compost heap too, so that the leaves can be harvested and put on regularly.
It's quite deep rooting, with a long thick tap root, so will take up nutrients well, and so in effect convert the clay over time into good soil via the leaves composting down.

I have found this link very informative,  hope you will enjoy reading it too.

http://www.futurefoods.com/comfrey.html   ;D

Root cuttings are better than trying to grow it from seed.

Blast -wish I'd thought of that jennym >:(

I've read that the leaves are good as a mulch around fruit trees and under potatoes when you sow -I'll be trying that next year.

Jeremy

Bocking 14 is the non-invasive type. I took over a plot that hadn't been gardened for 10 years and the comfrey was still well behaved there. It's all round a great plant to grow. You can put comfrey leaves in your potato trenches, cover your tomato beds with wilted leaves and you don't need extra feed, use them in your compost heap and make liquid feed. What more could you want from a plant that will quite happiuly use an unwanted corner of your plot?

I have comfrey leaves in the garden and cut it back a couple of time a year putting the leaves on the compost. 

One year, summer of 2003 - very hot year, I put some leaves in a bucket with water and left it to stew, big mistake  :o  :o .  Not only was there a bucket full of black gluck, there was also blue bottles and maggots.  The smell was so bad I just threw the lot away, on a flower bed of course!!  I'll just stick to the composting from now on.

Lily

Mine get bunged in the comfrey pipe which forces the juice out under pressure from my ramming it down with a champagne bottle  ;D  You keep packing the leaves in like that and then leave it to do its thing.  In hot weather you get more liquid being produced.  Liquid drips out goes through a small hole into a narrow necked jar.  Then it gets diluted 15 to 20 times in water.   Doesn't smell unless you put your nose right over it as you've just got concentrate  :)

I think I made the mistake of adding water.  I'll give it a go next year, this time without the water.

Lily

Comfrey  on  the  plot ?  YEP Definitely !

Half a  dozen  plants in a shady corner of our plot has been a great investment.
Why bother buying tomato feed when you can produce your own ?
Takes a bit of jiggery-pokery(especialy being 'helped' by a 2 year-old !), but last year we tried mixing homemade comfrey juice (just chuck leaves in a lidded barrel & wait few weeks) with seaweed solution and diluting with rainwater. Used it as a general liquid feed for near enough everything  !
Obviously needs more than one years trying, but had a better yield and much less sickly looking plants than previous years.

I am slowly becoming a convert to Comfrey, when I find out how to make a spliff out of it, I'm giving up growing vegatables  ....

Tsk  Behind the door there AD  8)

*hangs head in shame*   < .... but I LUV da kidz ! ! !    *huggles to dem all*