Why permaculture folks love comfrey

All plants have a certain life span, and comfrey is no different. The plant depends on extracting nutrients from the ground for its survival, so at some point the soil may become depleted, and comfrey will gradually diminish in vigor. It is good at extracting minuscule amounts of nutrients. I planted comfrey over 50 years ago on our side border of our property near the garden and at the back part of our property is a swamp! This comfrey that I plant only a few now today is going very strong and healthy and has seeded itself all over our property here and there I guess the birds or other animals must have at the seed and then pooped them out here and there all over the place!

Plus iI dug some up once in awhile and threw it in the side of the swamp where skunk cabbage was growinf it took over there and drove the skunk cabbage away! Plus I did it on purpose cause it attracts tons of honey bees and they continue to pollinate my garded and other crops and the bees have set up there homes all over my property which was my plan aswell! I use it as a mulch in garden and tear up leaves and put then in planting holes and I always have fabulous crops!

I often say that if organic gardening has a poster child, it would be fava beans. Comfrey works as well. I live in the subtropics in Australia. I planted comfrey under my citrus trees, following the practise of my sister in New Zealand.

When the comfrey grew too dominant under the young trees, I would cut it and use it as much under other trees or on garden beds. I have used comfrey as a herbal medicinal resource for over 45 years now.

But only in the last 10 on. It seeds so effectively here, that I now have comfrey as a dominant plant all over the garden. Lots of Mulch though, but I remove the flowers first.

I simply used an aquarium air pump to bubble air into the bucket while steeping the leaves. You get all the goodness without the stench. Hi, I have a comfrey plant that we planted about 15 years ago if not more. At first it grew quite slowly, but later on started growing quite figurously, it dies back every winter because of frost, but comes back with a vengence. I have tried taking some of the plant out, but it just keep growing back, taking up more and more space. We have used comfrey for many years.

First in the UK and now here in France. To avoid having it spread all over your property make sure you use the Bocking 14 variety. This was produced to create a plant that can be managed in any size garden but also comes back each year to produce its excellent leaves. Our dozen plants have served us well for over 13 years and two weeks ago there was no sign of it, now we have large leaves and can think of starting to harvest them quite soon.

That is early April. Wear gloves and cover your arms when handling the leaves as the tiny needles on the leaves and stalks can cause irritation. It is very important to be aware that as a medicinal plant it has its dangers. In fact I understand that some States in the USA have prohibited it as a herbal additive or have sent out warnings about its use. Please do your research thoroughly before using it medicinally. Same with putting down pieces of plywood all around it.

The large plant next to our compost was wonderful and stayed within its bounds. Great question. While not smell free it is less offensive and very concentrated so easier to store for later use.

The bag makes turning the sludge out at the end much easier. I put the sludge on the compost heap before reusing the bag. I found a less smelly way…just fill a lidded container with comfrey leaves and stalks crush or chop to speed process, and leave…can use small amount of water to start decomposing process. Very concentrated. Less smelly. Bottled it up and dilutes well to use. Was very effective. If you have a tap, make sure you have a filter on the inside so you can take off some of the liquid as you go.

I chop the comfrey down two to three times each season to compost. Putting fresh cuttings into soil can result in more comfrey plants and I already have plenty. My chickens and ducks would eat some too.

Deer as well were eating comfrey in the Fall. Nice article. It takes very little of the root to begin a new plant. I gave them the comfrey with instructions to make a poultice of warm oil, laid over the dried leaves. It has so many healing properties for the digestive tract as well.

I have some large comfrey plants at the back of my garage that a friend gave me a start of…. And do you cut all of the leaves back to the ground? How close to the ground? Thanks for the help? I give them a good clean cut at the base. Your book was my first introduction into permaculture principles, and I loved it—thank you! The soil has lots of clay, and is highly compacted. I would eventually like to plant up that area with swaths of buckwheat and crimson clover to attract bees and beneficial critters, as well as to enrich the soil.

My question is this:. Or should I leave it off after that? The only other possibility I can think of is that nothing is growing there simply due to the comfrey shading it out so thoroughly through the growing season.

Any thoughts? Interesting Katie. Hi Hannah thanks for the information. Have you had any good impact with comfrey on stabilising slopes. I was reading about that somewhere and thought of trying it on a slope at our place in Lucaston. Hi Scott, Absolutely — this is the main way we grow it on steep slopes. Get on the phone and call around. I literally got two small plants from the local school fair 3 years ago and I now have hundreds through propagating them myself.

Hi Scott We live in Lucaston too, am very happy to pass on some comfrey plants to you! Just email me at tassie87 bigpond. Thanks Hannah for this interesting piece on comfrey — like you I feed it occasionally to our chooks.

Have also heard it accelerates or promotes the breakdown of compost; have you tried it this way? Hi Caro! Perhaps I can write a sequel All the best. Do you know how salt tolerant comfrey is? I am losing a battle to salt inundation owing to sea level rise. I need to build up soil in a sandy soil patch behind a beach zone 6b to try to get the spruces growing there again. Every years violent winter storm may dump a large amount of salt water around the area.

Would comfrey work in such a situation to build soil? You are really knowledgeable when it comes to comfrey. I had fun reading your article. Thank you for sharing it. Cheers mate! It does have mauve flowers but they look a little different to yours, mine grow on clusters of green berries which turn yellow and drop to the ground. Take it to a local nursery, or back to where you got it from to get some help to ID it properly Christopher was the only medic during WW2 that was not only allowed to use herbs, but was given Carte Blanche to use them whenever he wanted by his commanding officer because he so skillfully demonstrated their healing power to his commanding officer and all the other staff healing a terrible case of Impetigo on a soldier who had terrible scabs covering his head.

Western medicine failed to help him. He who was going to be sent home, if not for Dr. Here is a link to an introduction to all the benefits of Comfrey people miss out on if they are afraid to take it internally. Here are a few testimonials from some of his patients who benefited greatly taking Comfrey. I hear you Emily. Does anybody know if Bocking 4 is available here in Australia. More commonly used as fodder for feeding livestock. The roots of Bocking 4 go down feet which makes it slightly more drought-resistant and the leaves are slightly wider than bocking This cultivar is more commonly used as a fertilizer because of its more narrow leaves which break down slightly faster, although both 4 and 14 are very similar and can be used as both fodder and fertilizer.

The roots of 14 go down feet which is a little less drought-resistant than Bocking 4. Bocking 14 Comfrey is more rust resistant than 4. Rust is a fungal disease though disease, in general, is very rare in all comfrey.

Also, Comfrey is the only plant known to harvest vitamin B from the soil. This is done exactly as it says, you chop the plant and drop and spread it around other plants in your garden. The benefit from this is that it makes the nutrients that the long taproot has drawn up from deep in the soil and stored in the plant, available for other plants as it breaks down on the soil. What makes comfrey an especially great plant for this is how fast it grows back.

Within a few weeks after chopping it down you will generally have a large vibrant and healthy plant available for more use. Another option for using comfrey as a fertilizer is by creating a liquid fertilizer from it by soaking the leaves. Just take a 5-gallon bucket and put in a wad of leaves then fill the bucket with water preferably rainwater for 4 to 5 weeks.

It will break down into a rather stinky concoction but will be packed with nutrients for use in your garden. Comfrey can make a great companion plant when used properly. What I mean by that is that you should only plant it beside things that you will never have to dig up as you will risk chopping the roots of the comfrey plant and cause it to spread.

My favorite way to use it as a companion plant is around trees and near garden beds where it can be available for chop and drop. Comfrey is a great organic material to add to a compost heap because of how quickly it breaks down. The rapid decomposing of comfrey helps to activate the compost pile while also releasing the abundance of nutrients into the pile.

All of this activity brought about by comfrey creates a very rich compost for garden application. You do need to be careful not to add too much comfrey to the compost pile however when you have thick layers of comfrey leaves matted together and breaking down I have noticed it breaks down into a black sludgy materiel that can throw the balance of the compost pile off, which can create an unpleasant odor.