Are you comfortable with comfrey?

This week was a busy one with getting our garden ready for the season. It took tons of heavy weeding, tilling and re-positioning of the borders on our raised beds.  Last week, garlic, new rhubarb, asparagus and horseradish were planted. This weekend, I prepped a space for and planted 14 strawberry plants. Fingers crossed for next year! Part of our garden preparation involves using comfrey from last season.  Comfrey grew on our property for several years without our knowledge of its uses. It came up every spring and then grew throughout the summer with no help. First, it developed dainty blue flowers, and then large leaves. Its flowers are an attraction to the bees who dart between the two to five foot bristled stalks. Not familiar with this perennial bush? I'll share what I've learned about this illegal and even somewhat dangerous plant. 

Search comfrey and you are likely to find that this member of the borage family has been used medicinally for years, but is also helpful with composting. Native to Europe and some parts of Asia, the low maintenance and prolific plant has a thick, hairy stem, and grows 2 to 5 feet tall. Its clustered flowers can be a pale purple, blue or whitish.  The leaves are oblong, and the roots  are black on the outside and white and fleshy on the inside and juice-filled.

Comfrey preparations are made from the leaves or other parts of the plant grown above the ground. New leaves tend to have more of the poisonous pyrrolizidine alkaloids than older leaves. Some preparations were also made from the roots, but roots contain up to 16 times the amount of pyrrolizidine alkaloids. I did a bit of research  as I was preparing to write this post and if you are unfamiliar with comfrey, it may be interesting to learn a bit about its medicinal use. NOTE: I am not suggesting that you use it, nor am I giving you recipes for it, including creating salves. 

Medical web sites have pages dedicated to this age old plant and its uses and applications-- both past and present. Comfrey has been used to treat skin wounds and reduce inflammation from sprains and broken bones. The roots and leaves of the plant contain allantonin, among other properties which helps to regenerate skin cells in addition to reducing inflammation and keeping skin healthy. Ointments containing comfrey have been used to treat bruises, pulled muscles, sprains, and even osteoarthritis. Historically, comfrey was used to treat stomach problems. This one has me a bit puzzled though because its use is also cited for causing liver damage and even death due to containing pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Oral products containing comfrey are banned in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Germany.

I have yet to explore using comfrey to make ointments and salves. However, for now, we have and do continue to use  the leaves to make tea for our garden. The plants love it!

Comfrey can be harvested at least three times during the summer season. It grows back quickly. Dry it and use the powder as a fertilizer. Or, chop the fresh leaves, and toss them into the soil in the fall when you close the garden up until spring. It will decompose and add a layer of nutrients into the soil. 

Comfrey bundles drying in out barn

Once the comfrey has dried, use a blender or coffee grinder to make the leaf powder. Store in an air-tight container. I have two old grinders that I picked up at a yard sale along with a blender that I retired from our kitchen that are ideal for things such as this.

In late winter or early spring, sprinkle powdered comfrey into the garden and mix with a pitch fork. A little goes  a long way, so a sprinkle in each row should do the trick.

If you want to  make a fresh tea for your garden, follow these steps:

Step 1: With gloves on, cut back the stems, leaving the leaves attached. Gloves are a good idea because the prickly nature and its natural chemical makeup of this perennial causes skin irritation. 

Freshly cut comfrey

Step 2: With gardening clips, cut the leaves and drop them into a bucket until the bucket is half full. 

Step 3: Fill the bucket with water. and use a brick or large stone to weight down the leaves. Position the bucket in the sun for two weeks.

Fill with water and weight leaves down.

Step 4: Does decomposing ever smell!! The end result will be a stinky liquid fertilizer ready to give nutrients to your vegetable garden.  Strain off the liquid and dilute by half before applying to the garden. Use the leftover sludge in the compost pile for an extra boost.

Why not check out comfrey and give your garden an extra boost ? It's a great natural way to enrich the soil and give back to our gardens to support healthy soil and the growth of productive plants.