Companion Planting

Comment

Comment by Janet Byers on December 4, 2009 at 6:32pm

I'm not sure what the correct answer is to that Yvonne, but usually if you stop something flowering (ie planning to reproduce) then it retains its robustness, so probably it would be better in terms of continued leaf production to pull the flower stems out when you notice them starting. I usually pull them out when I'm pulling leaves off, but they are often quite big stems by then. They can go into your bins to make your comfrey tea.

Comment by Yvonne Symons on December 4, 2009 at 12:50pm

Ah yes Janet I know the ones that you mean, bins that is. Thank you for the advice on the comfrey tea I will keep it in mind. I think I have another 2 weeks to go before I can start using it. I noticed yesterday that my comfrey is going to flower soon. Should I be preventing that?

Comment by Janet Byers on December 3, 2009 at 8:37pm

Hi Yvonne I got these rubbish type containers from Bunnings or the Plastic Box, plastic with lids, hold about 50 litres and cost $15-20 (guessing on both numbers but thereabouts). I don't stir it except when I use it, and I add fish bones and skin, because I don't want to put them in the compost and encourage rodents, and once a month ladle it out into watering cans which I then fill with water and water all the plants. However, in warm weather I water all the gardens with the hose first, I'd hate to hurt the plants' roots by putting too high a concentration of the tea on them. I just refill each one with leaves and water when it's empty, and since I don't feed much in the winter, when I start again with the spring plants it's extremely smelly! When the container is empty of liquid I take the evil smelling residue at the bottom and add it to compost for planting into (not into seed raising mix though, I think it's too strong for that). Use plastic gloves when working with this stuff, and be ready to leap into the shower afterwards. But don't let me put you off, you will see the results of your work in the weeks following. All the best and let me know how you're going with it - I've been doing it for a while so I may be able to answer any more questions you may have. Cheers.

Comment by Yvonne Symons on December 3, 2009 at 2:19pm

I haven't thought about putting on the ground around plants, now that it has been mentioned it seems so obvious. Janet when you say big plastic continer what are you using? I need to get something, I am currently using a 40 gallan drum, no its not full and also not mine, so I have to give it back and find something else to use. Thank you for the dilution raito, very useful piece of information. do you sitr yours on a daily basis or just leave it?

Comment by Janet Byers on December 3, 2009 at 9:58am

I think it's always good to have the ground covered, Fionna, and comfrey leaves should be good value, but I'd add two provisos: snails and slugs will get into comfrey, so I'd pick them and leave them to wilt for a day before putting them round your plants, and second, be careful that you are only putting leaves and not flowering stems, which are inclined to take root, which may mean you have them forever in that place - not necessarily where you planned to have more comfrey plants. I grow mine around the edge of the vege garden, in the shade of the shelter trees, so they are a bit protected from the sun. That's apart from the plants scattered about in the beds where I haven't taken my own advice and have let flowering stems take root.
Yvonne - comfrey dies down over the winter - but I've never known it to die completely - I think it could take over the world given half a chance :-)
I usually dig a trench to plant potatoes in and line it with a thick layer of comfrey leaves - just put the potatoes on top and cover with soil - but sometimes I forget and then I just throw wilted leaves down on top of the row.
I always have leaves soaking, I have 4 big plastic lidded containers around the property, and I fill the containers with the leaves packed fairly tightly, then fill with water, cover and leave. My unfavourite job (because it's labour intensive and very smelly) is to feed the comfrey tea diluted about 20:1 to all the plants before the full moon each month.

Comment by Lynn on December 3, 2009 at 9:44am

Yes Fionna, comfrey leaves can simply be laid on the soil around you veges as a mulch and it will feed the soil with it's wonderful nutrients

Comment by Fionna Hill on December 3, 2009 at 6:50am

Comfrey. Is it beneficial to strew cut comfrey leaves on the surface of the ground around veges?

Comment by Yvonne Symons on December 1, 2009 at 1:39pm

I planted comfrey last year for the first time. Nearly lost it when it went to ground over the winter. What really surprises me is the size of the leaves they are huge. I have about 7 leaves sitting in a barrel of water, hopefully it wll turn out to be good fertilizer. A tip I have read is when planting out potato seeds wrap a wilted comfrey leaf around the potato before planting it. I haven't tried it as I had already planted out my potatoes.

Comment by thegardener007 on December 1, 2009 at 12:54pm

My comfrey is not liking summer. But it's alive.

Comment by Matt Gillard on November 29, 2009 at 8:50pm

Hi Vivien, thanks for the info. I have sourced what we think is Russian Comfrey (purple flowers) from someone on Ooooby. But I will check the M10M here in Auckland. My Common Comfrey is taking off too. Cheers, Matt

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