Allotments 4 All

Please can anyone help with identification. I'm sure I know what this is but I can't place it! 🙄
(For some reason the pic is sideways, so please lie down to view.)

As far as I can tell I think it is Deutzia

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Content/D/Deutzia/Deutzia.htm

Thanks Tee Gee, but I think the flowers are more bell shaped. It reminded me of borage but there again, the flowers are different.

Might be Weigelia

I'd guess a relation of comfrey, but Gurgle is not being my friend tonight.

I'd vote for comfrey too.
See https://www.wildfooduk.com/edible-wild-plants/comfrey/

The leaves are a bit less smooth perhaps than often, but maybe within natural variation?

Looks like Comfrey to me too.

Comfrey for me too.  There are white, cream and more purpley flowered forms.   

Great for pollinators and great for making compost and even better for making comfrey tea - a rich fertiliser for tomatoes.   

Yes, it's Comfrey! Many thanks one and all.
Never had comfrey tea though!
How do I make a fertiliser from it?

Cut off the foliage and soak...

like the others mention this is one way

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Content/C/Comfrey/Comfrey.htm

I never thought of Comfrey,possibly that's because I no longer have an allotment where there was lots of it. I guess it was a case of ; Out of sight out of mind! But glad to see that your query was resolved.

Me neither Tee Gee. That's obviously where I remembered seeing it but just couldn't place it. A daughter has it in her garden, it looks lovely just now. I will have to transfer a chunk, especially as I can make tomato fertiliser from it.

Comfrey tea is for plants, not people!

There is the smelly method where you soak the foliage in a bucket of water for a couple of weeks (needs a lid) and then strain and dilute 10 parts water to 1 part "tea" and use for tomatoes, peppers, chillies, beans, squashes and so on.   

The second method is to stand an old bin on bricks so you can make a hole in the bottom and place a container beneath it.  You then fill it with comfrey leaves and then weigh them down with bricks or stones so the resulting good comes out into the container.   No smell.  No mess.  Dilute as above.

Put the used leaves or goo on the compost heap for more benefits.

Jim McColl on Beechgrove ran a trial one year comparing comfrey tea to commercial tomato fertiliser and was so astonished by the results (disbelief) that he repeated it the following year to make sure.   Comfrey tea won hands down for yield and flavour.

Thanks Obelixx. I will have a go at method 2. I wonder if it would be good for roses....

Yes, and clematis.

Quote from: Emagggie on April 04, 2021, 10:09:35
I will have to transfer a chunk, especially as I can make tomato fertiliser from it.

You  will not need a chunk, the tiniest little bit of black root will soon take over your allotment.

Unless you want it to of course.  I transplanted some last autumn into a corner of the veg plot where I wanted it to spread so I can make lots of tea.   Between the cold, the chooks and OH doing his best to bury it in grass cuttings it's struggling.

I no longer have have an allotment Ace, so thank you for the timely advice. My veg plot is at the end of the garden and space is limited. I may have to rethink.
Shame about yous, Obelixx, I'm sure it will pick up. 😬

I hope so.  It's been a long, cold winter here so it should be fine and I have more in pots to plant out when it warms up a bit. 

This time last year we were starting a 2 month heatwave and drought so going below freezing and having Arctic wind chill is a shocker this year.

Comfrey wine was reputed of old in East Anglia to be the world's greatest aphrodisiac.

Just saying.