Comfrey Kingston

Growing Comfrey for Added Garden Fertility

Growing comfrey makes sense for many gardeners as it is such a good source of fertility.

The question is not so much "How to grow comfrey?" as it is how to stop comfrey from growing everywhere!

Growing comfrey is rather easy if you have any spare space in your garden. Ideally, you need to be given a chunk of comfrey to plant directly into the soil. Friends who already have comfrey growing in their garden could be persuaded to part with a small piece of root. Failing that, you can buy comfrey in most garden centres which sell herbs.

Make sure that the comfrey is planted deeply enough to bury the roots and water it well. Ensure that it stays well watered for a few days while it gets established.

Comfrey likes free-draining, loamy soil but is not especially fussy. If you have a very hard sub-soil you may need to break it up with a spade for best results.

Comfrey - the invader!

Growing comfrey is often all too easy!

Once it is established it will happily romp around your garden unless you take steps to stop it. The roots will develop spurs which can be broken off to form new plants. It will also readily seed and new plants can appear yards away from the parent plant, at the other side of the garden, even.

The moral is - be careful where you plant comfrey! It is an incredibly useful plant but it is also a space invader which will push other plants out of the way. Comfrey is a garden thug, like mint. It can propagate itself with amazing success and appear, triffid like in your borders and beds.

There is a variety available known as "Bocking 14" which was developed by the Henry Doubleday Research Association. It does not tend to spread so readily, so may be a good choice if you want to be sure of avoiding self-propagation.

Young plants are quite easy to uproot before they have become too big. Older plants will need some spade work to get them out.

Growing comfrey in a bed

If you want to plant a bed of comfrey plants, give young plants between two to three feet space between each. Incorporate some good quality manure or compost in the bed for a fast start. A damp and remote part of the garden is a good choice. Comfrey plants like plenty of moisture and sunny conditions or half shade.

Growing comfrey in very small gardens is perhaps best avoided - unless you really like it! Comfrey plants can grow very tall and crowd out lesser plants. You may need to hack them back just so that other plants get a chance.

A highly useful plant!

The good news is that comfrey is a plant of incredible utility. It has such deep tap roots that it is able to bring up nutrients from far down in the sub-soil. Many people grow comfrey this reason alone. It gradually will help you to build up your garden's fertility. Comfrey is rich in potassium and nitrogen.

Cutting comfrey can be done with a sickle or any sharp blade. Wear gloves if you can because the leaves are hairy and slightly prickly and may cause som...