Is this comfrey?

[mrbadexample]

I think it might be but would like someone to confirm before I dig it up and bring it home.



Thanks.
MBE

[rustylady]

Yep, that's comfrey. Where are you pinching it from?

[oldie]

If it is growing wild remember that it will self seed - a lot.

[Two_Sheds]

I'm sending you the real deal, don't go digging up a self-seeder

[Florence Fennel]

They're all right, don't go planting a self-seeder, you'll be overrun with the stuff, although having said that, a friend of mine with 2 allotments has found room for a large patch of it contained with slates. Well, contained so far.

[mrbadexample]

Before you tell me off, can you look at my containment plan please? At the bottom of the garden, behind the shed and the greenhouse, is a wasted space about 12" wide:









I thought if I put some in the middle, between the shed and the greenhouse, it could work its way along behind the greenhouse, and if it can tolerate the shade, the shed too. After that it's got nowhere to go.

That rear border is about 10' from the rest of my garden.

Am I still asking for trouble?

TS, from the cuttings you're sending, how long do you think it will be before I can grow enough to harvest in this area please?

I want to use this area for comfrey, because it's no use for anything else, as far as I can see.

[Two_Sheds]

TS, from the cuttings you're sending, how long do you think it will be before I can grow enough to harvest in this area please?

I would expect you to be cutting it late summer, if you keep it watered in well for the first week or two

Yes, I think comfrey is ideal for that little gap: if you chop off the flowers it won't set seed anyway

[mrbadexample]

Yes, I think comfrey is ideal for that little gap: if you chop off the flowers it won't set seed anyway

If I did get the wild one, there's no way I could squeeze behind the shed on a regular basis to faff around chopping flowers off. So I would be taking the risk of it invading.

Maybe I'll hang on for the bocking 14.

[chris]

Just to add, the seeds could blow on the wind too, and before you know it seed all over the shop

Bocking 14 roots very rapidly... personally, I'd wait - just incase - think of the future hours you're potentially saving, then by my logic, that's at least two hours to put your feet up and do nowt, whilst a partner/friend runs around like a blue bottomed fly for you

[Shadylane]

How are you going to get in there to harvest it? I would just harvest it from the wild until you have enough from your root cutting. If there's one plant, there'll be more. Once you know what it looks like you start seeing it everywhere.

[mrbadexample]

How are you going to get in there to harvest it? I would just harvest it from the wild until you have enough from your root cutting. If there's one plant, there'll be more. Once you know what it looks like you start seeing it everywhere.

If it did grow all the way to the far back corner of the shed, I'd just have to squeeze in, harvesting as I went. I know that I fit in because I was in there painting the shed yesterday. That wasn't fun.

I think harvesting it from the wild is the best idea for the moment - it's growing in a yard where I work a couple of times a week, so no problem grabbing it. It's just the leaves I want, right?

[mrbadexample]

that's at least two hours to put your feet up and do nowt,

Thank you, I'll take 'em.

[Two_Sheds]

It's just the leaves I want, right?

Yep. I used to stuff the stalks an' all into my bottles, but they then go all slimy and bung up the opening.
Now I cut all the leaves up with scissors into a bucket, let them wilt for a day then stuff them into a 3 or 5 litre water bottle. I chuck any stalks onto the borders

[Flummery]

There's wild stuff down the lane near me. If I get to it before the council gang-mow it I can use it for my compost heap or comfrey tea. They are rather random in their mowing regime though!

[mothhawk]

This is one of the things I know about!

Wear gloves.

Chop it into 8" to 10" pieces, stalks and all and seal it up in a big polythene bag. (Leave some air in the bag, don't squeeze it all out). Put it somewhere warm, e.g. inside the greenhouse, forget about it for 4 weeks or so, and after that time it will be mostly dissolved away into pure liquid fertiliser.

Strain into bottles ( best to do this with a clothes peg on your nose!) and put any leftover gunge onto the compost heap. To use, dilute one part juice to 10 parts water as a general feed and tonic for just about any plant.