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Gardening Galore
Russian Comfrey
is one of the most versatile plants in the organic garden. Although
now not recognised as an edible plant, use it as a source of
potash-rich organic material and liquid feed.
The value of
comfrey lies in its making the roots bring up potassium, phosphate
and other minerals from deep in the earth. The leaves are also high
in nitrogen.
Among its many
uses, Russian comfrey can be used as a compost activator, liquid
feed, comfrey tea, comfrey concentrate, potting mix, mulch,
bee-attractant. Earthworms also seem to proliferate in the comfrey
garden.
The make up of
comfrey is two to three times higher in potassium than farmyard
manure, which makes it especially useful for the production of
flowers, fruits and seeds. The high nitrogen content of the leaves
also means that comfrey can be used as a surface mulch or dug into
the soil with no worries about robbing the soil of nitrogen. This
often happens with green manure crops in the short term, as nitrogen
is required by the plant material to breakdown before releasing its
own stored nutrients back into the soil or compost heap. The leaves
can be cut down through the rains and hot season if watered. This
should be done at least six times a year.
Comfrey could be
used in planting holes for trees and shrubs, covered with earth to
release the nutrients after decomposition.
There are two
methods of making comfrey into liquid feeds, the most popular way to
use comfrey as there is no leaching and the nutrients are available
immediately to plants.
For comfrey tea:
in a drum, add about 7 kilograms of comfrey leaves to 100 litres
water. Chop the leaves up, leave the mixture covered for three to
four weeks. Then water plants with the light coloured tea. This
method is good for small quantities of tea. The disadvantages of tea
is its smell and bulky to store.
For Comfrey
concentrate: Stack leaves in a container and weigh leaves down with
a weight. The leaves decompose slowly to a thick, brown liquid which
is diluted 15-20 to 1 with water. Feed plants twice weekly with this
liquid.
As mentioned
before, comfrey in the compost heap as an activator works well.
Don’t use too much as it will go all slimy. But it can introduce the
moisture and heat that a compost heap needs.
If comfrey is
left to flower, bees love the flowers as they are packed with nectar
and pollen.
Russian comfrey
will not grow from seed as the plants are sterile. However,
propagation is simple enough. Chop off a plant horizontally with a
spade and plant all the offsets and roots. Once established, it can
be a problem to get rid of as all root cuttings left in the soil
will grow. But the benefits outweigh this small disadvantage.
The
author of our monthly column is a horticulturalist who can be
contacted on email through The Lowdown or by phone on 096 747-990
for your gardening queries. |
January 2005