Over the past week I've been reading about Comfrey and it's supposed to be a
fantastic organic fertilizer.

Yesterday I went out looking for it growing in the wild and transplanted
eight sections of root onto a piece of scrub land closer to my garden.
Apparently it spreads like wildfire, and is very difficult to eradicate
(hence the planting on scrub land) but the plant sucks nutrients from as far
as 6 feet below the surface and stores them in it's leaves.

Has anyone else had any experience of this plant in their garden?

In article ,
"Bobby" wrote:

Over the past week I've been reading about Comfrey and it's supposed to be a
fantastic organic fertilizer.

Yesterday I went out looking for it growing in the wild and transplanted
eight sections of root onto a piece of scrub land closer to my garden.
Apparently it spreads like wildfire, and is very difficult to eradicate
(hence the planting on scrub land) but the plant sucks nutrients from as far
as 6 feet below the surface and stores them in it's leaves.

Has anyone else had any experience of this plant in their garden?

We bulldozed (literally, with a JCB) our comfrey patch last winter. By
the spring it was breaking out all over, and growing as vigorously as
ever. Fabulous as a liquid manure, if smelly...

Bobby wrote:
Over the past week I've been reading about Comfrey and it's supposed to be a
fantastic organic fertilizer.

Yesterday I went out looking for it growing in the wild and transplanted
eight sections of root onto a piece of scrub land closer to my garden.
Apparently it spreads like wildfire, and is very difficult to eradicate
(hence the planting on scrub land) but the plant sucks nutrients from as far
as 6 feet below the surface and stores them in it's leaves.

Has anyone else had any experience of this plant in their garden?


There is a strain called 'Bocking 14' marketed by the HDRA which is much
less invasive and just as beneficial. I've grown it for 5 years without
being driven out of house and home (or garden).

Derek Turner wrote:

There is a strain called 'Bocking 14' marketed by the HDRA which is much
less invasive and just as beneficial. I've grown it for 5 years without
being driven out of house and home (or garden).

Sorry to follow up on my own post but I've just googled Bocking 14 and
discovered that it's sterile - will propagate through root cuttings but
does not seed (flowers beautifully, bees love it). Explains a lot!

Bobby wrote:
Yesterday I went out looking for it growing in the wild and transplanted
eight sections of root onto a piece of scrub land closer to my garden.
Apparently it spreads like wildfire, and is very difficult to eradicate
(hence the planting on scrub land) but the plant sucks nutrients from as far
as 6 feet below the surface and stores them in it's leaves.
Has anyone else had any experience of this plant in their garden?

Yes! Fabulous stuff - put it in your compost, or use as mulch around
courgettes. I do before going on holidays.

The wild comfrey (probably symphytum uplandicum) spreads everywhere by
runners and seeds, but is also quite small. It's so rampant it could
probably come back to life in a cool compost heap (shudder). I'd get it
out quick whuile you still can.

So it would still be a threat if I only harvested the leaves and put them in
the compost heap?

In article , Janet Baraclough
writes

Any chance of a picture of it Janet?

Not only is Bocking 14 sterile, it doesn't spread by runners, and is
also one of the largest forms of comfrey (at least 3ft tall with huge
leaves). I've grown it for decades and it stays right where its planted,
producing massive crops which I harvest all summer for mulch, making
compost, and making liquid fertiliser.
--
Judith Lea

On Thu, 6 Apr 2006 16:56:52 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

The message
from Judith Lea contains these words:

In article , Janet Baraclough
writes


Not only is Bocking 14 sterile, it doesn't spread by runners, and is
also one of the largest forms of comfrey (at least 3ft tall with huge
leaves). I've grown it for decades and it stays right where its planted,
producing massive crops which I harvest all summer for mulch, making
compost, and making liquid fertiliser.


Any chance of a picture of it Janet?

Not at this time of year. In winter it disapears below ground and is
barely poking through yet. But if you remind me later in summer I'll
send you one.

Janet

I thought comfrey was used as a ground cover and green manure over
winter?

"JB" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 6 Apr 2006 16:56:52 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

The message
from Judith Lea contains these words:

In article , Janet Baraclough
writes


Not only is Bocking 14 sterile, it doesn't spread by runners, and is
also one of the largest forms of comfrey (at least 3ft tall with huge
leaves). I've grown it for decades and it stays right where its
planted,
producing massive crops which I harvest all summer for mulch, making
compost, and making liquid fertiliser.


Any chance of a picture of it Janet?

Not at this time of year. In winter it disapears below ground and is
barely poking through yet. But if you remind me later in summer I'll
send you one.

Janet

I thought comfrey was used as a ground cover and green manure over
winter?

Er,no.

Google Results 1 - 10 of about 164 for comfrey winter bocking. (0.37
seconds)



michael adams

....

Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from "Bobby" contains these words:
[...]
So it would still be a threat if I only harvested the leaves and put
them in
the compost heap?

If your heap is cool and the wild comfrey is at an outside edge, I
bet it would just take root.
It should be safe enough for making liquid fertiliser though (put
in a large barrel, fill with water, cover with lid.. It stinks. )

I don't think there's any risk of the leaves taking root: even the few
plants which can be propagated from leaf cuttings need special
treatment -- a propagator, or rooting in water like African violets --
just chucking leaves on a compost heap doesn't seem special enough to
me! Maybe someone will be along in a minute to prove me wrong, but I
doubt it. I had Bocking 14 for years, and it gave no trouble.

--
Mike.

michael adams wrote:
"JB" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 6 Apr 2006 16:56:52 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

The message
from Judith Lea
[...]
Any chance of a picture of it Janet?

Not at this time of year. In winter it disapears below ground and
is barely poking through yet. But if you remind me later in summer
I'll send you one.

Janet

I thought comfrey was used as a ground cover and green manure over
winter?

Er,no.

Google Results 1 - 10 of about 164 for comfrey winter bocking. (0.37
seconds)

And here's one of the pictures from Ggl Images:
http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalo...ucts/cmfp1.jpg

It must be cheaper somewhere else, I'd have thought -- I was given mine.

Of course among talk of the magic of comfrey we must beware the "Green
Revolution" fallacy: no gardening process gives out more than you put
in. It does make the most of what you give it, but it's a greedy plant.

--
Mike.

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
michael adams wrote:
"JB" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 6 Apr 2006 16:56:52 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

The message
from Judith Lea
[...]
Any chance of a picture of it Janet?

Not at this time of year. In winter it disapears below ground and
is barely poking through yet. But if you remind me later in summer
I'll send you one.

Janet

I thought comfrey was used as a ground cover and green manure over
winter?

Er,no.

Google Results 1 - 10 of about 164 for comfrey winter bocking. (0.37
seconds)

And here's one of the pictures from Ggl Images:
http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalo...ucts/cmfp1.jpg

It must be cheaper somewhere else, I'd have thought -- I was given mine.

£1.11 each, if you buy 5. But as it can be easily propogated from roots
apparently it seems daft to buy more, just to get a small discount for
quantity. When growing things is supposed to what it's all about in any
case.
You'd think there'd be the basis of a business there. Providing
the website had a green background as well.


Of course among talk of the magic of comfrey we must beware the "Green
Revolution" fallacy: no gardening process gives out more than you put
in. It does make the most of what you give it, but it's a greedy plant.


It appears that it pulls up and utilises minerals and essential elements
through having deep roots, much like stinging nettles. I stick with the
latter, collecting bin bags full from along the canal among other places.
Both for tea and as a compost accelerant. Not sure of the actual analysis -
maybe comfrey may be higher in potash.


michael adams

....




--
Mike.

On Thu, 06 Apr 2006 19:58:25 +0100, michael adams wrote:


quantity. When growing things is supposed to what it's all about in any
case.
Of course among talk of the magic of comfrey we must beware the "Green
Revolution" fallacy: no gardening process gives out more than you put
in. It does make the most of what you give it, but it's a greedy plant.


It appears that it pulls up and utilises minerals and essential elements
through having deep roots, much like stinging nettles. I stick with the
latter, collecting bin bags full from along the canal among other places.
Both for tea and as a compost accelerant. Not sure of the actual analysis -
maybe comfrey may be higher in potash.


Drifting a little of topic here, but in my Suffolk garden I have what I
think is Comfrey (big hairy leaves, small blue flowers, deep tap root) and
what I am sure are nettles (ouch) but these don't have deep roots - they
spread by surface runners which form new clumps, mainly in the middle of
shrubs where they are very difficult to get at.

Cheers

Dave R

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 06 Apr 2006 19:58:25 +0100, michael adams wrote:


quantity. When growing things is supposed to what it's all about in any
case.
Of course among talk of the magic of comfrey we must beware the "Green
Revolution" fallacy: no gardening process gives out more than you put
in. It does make the most of what you give it, but it's a greedy plant.


It appears that it pulls up and utilises minerals and essential elements
through having deep roots, much like stinging nettles. I stick with the
latter, collecting bin bags full from along the canal among other places.
Both for tea and as a compost accelerant. Not sure of the actual
analysis -
maybe comfrey may be higher in potash.


Drifting a little of topic here, but in my Suffolk garden I have what I
think is Comfrey (big hairy leaves, small blue flowers, deep tap root) and
what I am sure are nettles (ouch) but these don't have deep roots - they
spread by surface runners which form new clumps, mainly in the middle of
shrubs where they are very difficult to get at.

Cheers

Dave R

Your description fits *Borage* which in this neck of the woods is also a
very invasive plant. Absolutely beautiful and very useful but a complete
pest.