Where to get Comfrey?

Comfrey

You need to buy something called 'Blocking 14@ which is the strain most benefical to gardeners.

You could try: http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/

It will no doubt be stocked by other seed companies.

j.flett

if you live anywhere near kettering .ive got loads on my allotment which you are welcome to come & fetch

I am interested in comfrey as a plant with many uses. However everything I have read leads me to belive it will take over my garden and I will never be able to control it. One person said it was more pervasive than bindweed to get rid of. Having spent the last seven years fighting aginst that nasty nasty nasty (see no naughty words ) bindweed, I am a little scared to sow or plant comfrey even though I would love to be able to gather its leaves.
Perhaps I should plant it in my neigbours garden after all the grass and weeds in their garden gets higher each year. Last year there were elephants and tigers at the bottom of their garden.

Grow it contained

I grow my comfrey is a contained trench and at home in pots, it has a lovely flower and the leaves are useful as either shredded mulch or as liquid feed.

Agree though, don't ever grow it open soil, it will spread and it is really hard to get rid of.

Andrewo

Comfry is fantastic as a feed / mulch giving a good boost to plants but it is also my best (secret!!) weapon against slugs.

Bet thats got you thinking!

Comfrey vs Slugs

C'mon then Geordie
Whaddya do, roll up the leaves and batter the little beggars to death ????
Rat

Yes Geordie you have got to tell us your secret. Don't worry we will not tell anyone else!

Secret Weapon!!!

Ok, this I discovered quite by accident and can only assume it is not unique to my allotment.
I had a prepared raised bed that i was going to use to transplant some seedlings. I decided to use a top dressing of comfrey leaves which i knew would quickly rot down to provide nutrients at soil level. After about two days I noticed the bed had become infested by slugs. I remember it was a poor day for weather so all I had time to do was rake the comfry leaves and slugs into a pile in the middle of the bed.
A further two days went by before I returned to the allotment and I was amazed to find the pile of comfrey leaves was surrounded by a mass of slug trails. The heap itself was more congested than your supermarket two days before Christmas.
Sifting through the heap, all the slugs were removed and despatched. Over the next few days i did find more slugs appearing in the heap but numbers were diminishing. Toward the end of the second week not a slug was found anywhere. The pile of comfrey leaves were removed to the compost bin, the bed was planted with the seedlings and fresh comfrey leaves were laid around the border of the bed acting as a moat.
Over the course of the summer i continued to find slugs (only a few) in the comfry border but the crop was virtually untouched.
I dont know why this worked, slugs never seem to bother with comfry as it is growing as a plant, all i know is it did.
This was last year and i intend to do another trial this year, except this time I will use two piles on two beds...one at each end of the allotment.

I would be interested if anybody else tries this and if they see any sort of success.

Now I realyrealy want Comfrey

Can you find comfrey in the wilds e.g. in woodlands and take cuttings from that and plant it up in pots? I've always wanted to get some comfrey going in a section of my garden so I can use it as a mulch and also make liquid feed from it. I tried growing it from seeds years ago with no success. I wuld love to get my hands on some so any tips would be good.

As previously advised you need to buy " Blocking 14 " comfry.

You are quite likely to find it on your local allotment....just ask if you can have a root cutting.

Boy am I glad I started that one! Thanks to all contributers. I'll be trying the slug moat for sure. Would love to know why they don't like it til its cut?

Bocking 14 is a hybrid which does not self-seed. So it has all the benefits of comfrey, and not the invasiveness.

Many thanks for explaining the significance of "Bocking 14"
Jax