comfrey

[littleminnie]

I found someone to trade some comfrey for some sunchokes. I just am not sure where I should put the comfrey. Any suggestions? and don't say in the ground!

[bluelacedredhead]

Minnie, I put comfrey in three different parts of the yard in 2009.
The one with a Western exposure in part shade hasn't appeared yet. The one in the perennial flowerbed with Eastern exposure has tips poking through the ground. The one against the foundation of the house with a Southern exposure is about 4 inches tall now.

It's invasive and will need space, particularly if you are getting the common comfrey which is much larger than some of the other varieties. In the 80's I had a very large plant against a chainlink fence for support, and away from all other plants in the yard. We didn't clean the sod away from the base of the plant. Now that I think of it, that probably kept it from running rampant in the yard to some degree. Perhaps the people who bought that house from us might have a different opinion?

[mnjrutherford]

Comfrey is also medicinal isn't it?

[bluelacedredhead]

Great compost activator. Medicinal uses include wrapping sprains or injuries.
There have been concerns in recent years by government health organizations here that internal use of comfrey is harmful to one's health. Well, an overuse of almost anything is harmful to one's health, is it not? So I think that the key is Moderation.

Anyway, here's a link that might be of use.
www.allotment.org.uk/vegetable/comfrey/index.php

[littleminnie]

Cool. I'll have a little pharmaceutical operation with toothache plant, comfrey and achillea growing wild in the lawn.
I still don't know where to put the stuff!

[bluelacedredhead]

Minnie, what part of where to plant it are you having problems with?
I suggested a Sunny exposure. What else concerns you?
I've also seen it used as a border around a vegetable plot, but that was a shorter variety, like the Bocking.

I have two plants in perennial beds amongst the flowers and berries. At my last house, it was in the actual herb garden, and the house before that, just a large plant against the fence all alone. I think it lends itself well to almost any setting in a yard.

And I've raised it in sandy loam, red clay and clay loam. It's very versatile as you can well imagine.

[grunt]

Comfrey is okay to use externally, but I would have strong concerns about using it internally, and perhaps on an open wound. It was once touted as a good herbal tea, but some varieties have echimidine in them, which can cause liver damage. Still good material for poulices, used to also be called knitbone.

[ianpearson]

Try planting it where nothing else will grow! Poor soil, rubble, no direct sunlight, run-off from cattle slurry, all no problem to comfrey.
But once you have it, you have it, - it's difficult to eradicate, so choose the site carefully.

[mnjrutherford]

Do you have room for a nice perennial herb plot Minnie? Lots of herbs do well under "stressed" conditions, as Ian has pointed out. Maybe a rock garden closer to the house?

[galina]

Minnie

go for the named variety Russian comfrey Bocking 14. It flowers and attracts bees but does not set seed and the spread by root is very controllable indeed.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfrey

Russian Comfrey Bocking 14 is an excellent base for homemade liquid fertiliser, especially for tomatoes because comfrey is rich in potash.

I get 3 cuts of comfrey leaves here in England, which I chop roughly with a spade (make sure no bits of root are cut off because they will root readily) and use to mulch my potato plants and also my greenhouse tomatoes.

Sorry, just reread your post. You have got the comfrey already. If it is not Bocking 14, then plant it as far away from vegetable plants as possible. Perhaps you have a semi-wild area somewhere? Cutting with a scythe or garden shears before the plants flower, will give you the beneficial leaves and control spread by seeding to a degree. As an alternative to chopping leaves you can mow over your harvested comfrey with a mower that collects grass for ready-to-use mulching materials.

[littleminnie]

The difficulty is that I rent my planting space- an old potato field. At home I have a nice perennial garden that used to be a veggie garden with perennials on the border. I have already infected the field with sunchokes and I'm not sure where to put the comfrey where it won't bother anything but will get enough water. Dry, sandy and windy are my conditions. There is a ditch right next to the edge of the field. Perhaps it is wet enough (being a ditch) to grow it down there? Otherwise it will have to go on a border or in a slightly lower area that produced badly last year, but it is right in the middle of the field.

[mjc]

The ditch would be a good spot.

I've never known comfrey to be that demanding...it seems to me that it will grow almost anyplace you will let it.

[gegedunord]

fil plaisanterie auteur

Le fossé serait un bon endroit.

Je n'ai jamais connu consoude à que [/ i] exigeants ... il me semble qu'il grandira presque n'importe où vous le permettez]. [/ Quote

completely agree with you more rt Comfrey likes water; bloking me my 14, or any great russian wherever I put it, it does well I am putting a link that also addresses the topic, I made a large tank with tank, I put it in a burlap bag with nettles also and marinate all the juice is stronger
1 wine glass of water equal 25litres
det68.free.fr/
Proposer une meilleure traduction

[ceara]

I ordered some Bocking 14 live plants a couple of weeks ago, can't wait until they ship. Richters sells three varieties of Comfrey. There are no wild Stinging Nettles here either so I had to order both very useful plants.

About the internal use of Comfrey, I read when the scientists did the test with lab animals, they injected a high power concentration which indeed caused liver damage. Herbalists out there say that small doses do no harm. I think part of the negative reports stem from big pharma not wanting people to use such a powerful healing herb.

The dangers of using Comfrey on an open wound is the main component allantoin causes rapid cell growth, which may seal infection inside the wound. So if it is to be used as a poultice, the wound must be cleaned well.

www.frenchgardening.com/tech.html?pid=3164873867231346

That website talks about the use of Comfrey and Nettles in the garden to help other plants.

Don't have to make a "tea" to use Comfrey. Simply stack leaves in a container that slightly slopes, which allows the liquid to drip and collect. Like a bucket with a hole in it, leaned up against a wall with something to catch the juice underneath. Pack them in and weigh down with a rock. What you will end up is "black gold" that you dilute 1 part to 10 parts water. Getting the liquid from Comfrey in this manner will allow you to store a smaller amount of liquid versus the tea method.

Nettles provide nitrogen when done in the same black liquid, or in a fermented tea. A combo of Nettle and Comfrey is a good idea.

Plus Nettles are nutritionally good for you. I can't wait to try them. Supposedly very tasty in a soup and said to help with arthritis. Nettles were eaten during WW2 food ration times because they could be collected wild without ration.

[trixtrax]

Symphytum officinale and Bocking 14 are different. Bocking 14 is a cross in a series of crosses of Symphytum officinale and Symphytum asperum called Symphytum x uplandicum. Bocking 14 happens to be abnormally high in allantoin which helps cells of animals regenerate. However, Bocking 14 is also much higher in pyrrolizidine alkaloids which build up in the liver and destroy its enzymatic processes. Herbal practitioners typically use S. officinale since its compounds are in better balance than the hybrid bockings and many actually prefer it to Symphytum x uplandicum.

This does not negate its topical use, or as a green manure or fodder. Just I would strongly suggest using Bocking 14 internally. I have personally known some people who have fallen ill from internal use of Bocking 14.

I have used Comfrey Bocking 14 many times in green manure guilds, where itself is a green manure, but also because it bootstraps the growth of other green manures like lovage, legume plants, elderberry, sunchokes, mullein, etc. The plants used to make preps in biodynamics - comfrey, yarrow, chamomile (I prefer the perennial much more aromatic roman chamomile), valerian, and nettle - make a wonderful chaotic mess of green manure goodness to supermulch out weeds in another spot of the garden when planted as a guild. I am interested in biodynamics and do practice *some* of the procedures, because they do seem to work, however I don't just blindly follow every practice simply "because the book says."

Nettles are great early spring greens, very plentiful here, but once their lushness fades and they are more than about 1.5ft tall they are no good for consumption since the minerals within them "crystallize" and can cause stones and other problems. Nettle root does have medicinal uses as well but I do not know them. Nettle is most potent, it is said, when it's flowers just begin to open.