Comfrey plants are easy to grow in home gardens and their leaves can be made into a potent fertilizer for all manner of plants in an organic garden.
Comfrey is a perennial herb that has been used medicinally for centuries for its healing properties in treating wounds, arthritis and even broken bones. More recently, a strong hybrid has been developed called ‘Russian comfrey.’ Russian comfrey is now widely available and the best choice for maximising the yield, as its leaves that can be harvested up to four times in a growing season.
Comfrey is widely used by organic gardeners due to the high amount of minerals that can be found in its leaves. Researchers in British Colombia discovered that comfrey leaves contained much higher levels of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus than other common organic fertilizers such as kelp or homemade compost.These high levels of potassium make comfrey particularly useful when growing nightshade family vegetables like potatoes and tomatoes, which respond well to extra potassium in their soil. Comfrey fertilizer also gives great results when used on fruit trees, berries and flowers and herbs.
How to Grow Comfrey
Comfrey is relatively easy to grow but some care needs to be taken about choosing a good spot for it in a garden. Comfrey roots run very deep and once they are established in an area of the yard they will be almost impossible to remove.Choose a spot with lots of sun and feed and top dress the comfrey regularly with compost or even fresh manure to get the best results.
Comfrey can be grown from seedlings or from even pieces of comfrey roots with growing shoots. The plants should be well spaced to allow the roots enough room to grow.
Using Comfrey as an Organic Fertilizer
Comfrey leaves can be dug directly into the soil, in the same way as a green manure. Alternatively they could be laid on the ground where potatoes are going to be planted. The leaves can also be used as mulch and won’t drain the soil of nitrogen the way some mulches do.One excellent way to maximise the return on the comfrey leaves is to make a liquid fertilizer that been proven to be as powerful as many commercial chemical fertilizers. Here are instructions of how to make a homemade liquid organic fertilizer
Comfrey Liquid Organic Fertilizer Recipe
- Take a large plastic container and make a small hole in the bottom. Put a small plastic container under the hole to catch any liquid that comes out
- Half fill the large container with freshly cut comfrey leaves.
- Add water until the leaves are just covered.
- Put on a lid and allow the leaves to ferment.
- After 2-4 weeks, depending on the warmth, a concentrated liquid will dribble into the receptacle. This is the comfrey liquid fertilizer.
- Use this fertilizer on plants, diluted with water at a ratio of 1:20