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Comfrey: the wonder plant

Anyone who has been reading this blog for more than a couple of weeks will realise I really, really love comfrey. It is probably the most important plant in an organic garden, especially if you are growing vegetables. I love comfrey because it means I don’t have to buy any fertilisers, because it perks up my compost heap, because it gives my seed potatoes a helping hand and because the bees adore the flowers.

Here are just some of the things you can do with this marvellous plant:

  • Cut the leaves up and leave them in a bucket of water for three weeks to make comfrey tea. I dilute this one part ‘tea’ to ten parts water. You can also make a stronger brew by putting a larger volume of leaves in the bucket without any water, and leaving for six weeks before using. This is a marvellous fertiliser, high in potash and nitrogen, and as such is perfect feed for tomatoes, pumpkins, peppers and aubergines. I also use it to feed my kale and chard from time to time.
  • Line your potato trenches/holes with comfrey leaves to give the tubers a good start.
  • Dig in plenty of the leaves as a green manure before growing hungry crops.
  • Spread the leaves through your compost heap, or chuck a bucket full of comfrey tea over the compost heap to speed up the rotting process.
  • When planting out a seedling in a biodegradable module such as a newspaper pot, wrap a comfrey leaf or two around the pot to give the roots a good feed as they spread.
  • Use as a mulch on your veg beds.
  • Mix shredded leaves in with one-year-old leaf mould to make a perfect potting mix.
  • Shred the leaves and use, with powdered milk and eggshells, in the soil you are growing your tomatoes in. This encourages strong, healthy plants which will fight diseases such as blight for longer (although there is nothing you can do to actually cure blight once the plant has got it).
  • Feed the leaves, wilted to chickens.

Comfrey is a very easy plant to grow. In fact, it is a little too easy and can spread a little too enthusiastically if you are not careful. To slow the spread, always grow the sterile variety ‘Bocking 14′, which also has very good, nutritious leaves.

Mulch well in winter, and plant in a relatively shady, moist spot. In the second year, you can start to take root cuttings from your plant by pushing your spade through the centre of the plant, digging it up, and planting a 2 inch section in a pot, watering well.

If you are finding it hard to get your hands on some comfrey, have a look on Allotments4All, where there are many allotmenteers who are very keen to give cuttings away in exchange for donations to their allotment organisations.

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