Anyone for Afternoon Tea?

Russian Comfrey tea is a wonderful free fertiliser for your vegetable or flower garden but not for human consumption! A harvest of leaves can be cut from your comfrey plants at least twice during summer, I get three or four harvests from our plants in the polytunnel. Simply bruise the foliage in a bucket and fill with water, preferably rainwater. Leave the broth to fester for a few weeks, this happens quicker if you keep it inside a polytunnel but you may find the smell repulsive! It soon turns to a black liquer which needs to be diluted 15:1 for use on flowering or fruiting plants. 

The comfrey plant has a very deep tap root which brings up many trace elements and minerals from deep below the soil where these nutrients often lie out of reach for mainstream plants. The leaves can also be thrown on the compost heap to boost its value or chopped and dug into vegetable beds.

I like Russian Comfrey as it does not set seed and so is less invasive, spreading via root cuttings instead.

Comments

[Flowers]

Wow. Your garden blog looks great. Enjoyed the fresh egg if chicken. it was nice going through your blog.

[queenie]

good to know. Thanks!

[Richard Stone]

Hi,
Can you tell me where I can get some Russian Comfrey, I have looked at a few places but all are out of stock.

Like your site. We are trying to follow the same path. Bad weather in summer not helping. Great for slugs.

Allbest

Richard

[Rebecca (Sallygardens Smallholding author)]

I got my comfrey seeds from Chilterns seed catalogue, you'll find them on line.

[Anshamrogue]

Hi,
I remember from my horticulture degree in Warrenstown College (now sadly closed) that we studied Russian comfrey.Yes, after it has rotted down and formed effluent it can be added diluted to fruit and veg, plus also it can be applied to broken bones and strains-i think its common name is "Knitbone". The former Meath manager, Sean Boylan used to routinely use on his players who would recuperate from injuries up to 3 weeks faster than usual! :)