The weather today was mixed--there were periods of sun and periods of clouds. It was cool, and therefore a good day to work. One of the little things to do was to make more Comfrey tea. We go through that fairly quickly. It makes great food for the toms and courgettes...for runner beans as well. I have a little patch of these robust Bocking 14 plants. I just laid into them like Figaro. I only have five plants, but they are robust, as I have said and produce enormous leaves...and lots of them. The bucket with leaves and stems. i just added canal water and left it. The smell of ripened tea" is ghastly. The rest of the plants that you see here, I used to place at the base of the tomato plants and in the compost bin. Which brings me to the next task--the pruning of the tom plants, for the third time now. You can see the remains the Comfry placed there last time. The removal of superfluous branches and suckers requires a resolute will. It is for the best--more air circulation and less chance of disease. Additionally more energy cn go into the fruits and fruit production. The removal almost filled this bushel trug. I was able to make the neighbour lady happy with a couple of snack cues. Amazingly they came from this cucumber plant that is still in its infancy. Weeding was necessary and tomorrow will be dedicated to even more weeding, should the weather allow.
Your idea of making comfrey tea for my plants is an excellent one. I should do that this week as I fill in with sime bush bean plantings. Does the comfrey easily divide or multiply? I have one plant that has been here since we moved in decades ago and would like to have more in a different location. Used your sucker removal technic on the volunteer tomato plants. I am sure they are last year's cherry tomato varieties that didn't get proper support and sprawled all over the bed. This year I have a seven foot trellis so hopefully will be able to manage them better. Thanks for sharing and am putting some of your advice into practice. Wish our heat would abate a bit, but looks to hit 100F. this next week. Ugh! So out of character for us. I rather prefer the cool maritime climate that went away with El Niños appearance.
Sjoerd, I am interested in you comfrey tea. It is high in nitrogen for the plants? I wonder if my community garden mates would tolerate the smell....or run me off the plot?! And do you just lay some of the chopped comfrey at the base of your vegetable plants for fertilizer? I notice that you have plastic thing-a-ma-bobs next to your tomatoes. What are they for?
Hi JEWELL--Thanks for your comments. Comfrey is easy to propagate. By far the easiest (and with Bocking 14 the ONLY way) is to take root cuttings. Just remember which end is proximal and which is distal. The distal end ought to point downwards. My plants are the Bocking 14. I use this because it is sterile and produces no viable seeds. Ordinary comfrey can seed-out easily....TOO easily actually. i have toi keep an eye on the wild comfrey that I have over along the canal that it doesn't get into the flower or veggie gardens. The root is almost impossible to remove in its entirety. It sounds that you have taken good steps to trellis your toms in this year. Chapeau! I was chuffed that you used my technique. Good onya. CAYUGA--Hiya miss. Comfrey tea is higher in potassium than in nitrogen. Nettle tea on the other hand is higher in nitrogen. I sometimes make a tea with the leaves of nettles AND comfrey. I don't know what your fellow allotmenteers will say about the fragrance of your comfrey tea. Best wait until they are not present when you use it. --chortle-- You asked if I laid the comfrey at the base of the plants for fertilizer. The answer is, "yes". If you look closely at the tom foto's, you will see some browning comfrey leaves and stalks lying at the base of my toms in-between the watering bottles and the tom stems. I also pour the tea over them and onto the soil as well. The plastic thing-a-ma-bobs are 1½ liter plastic bottles with the bottoms cut off. I apply water directly to the lower root ball. --Did you see my posting a few weeks ago where I showed how I planted my toms? I had plastic thimg-a-ma-bobs in those pics as well. Great news, NETTY-- Great to hear that you had good success using it. Do you think that your harvest was better than without using it?
Sjoerd, ok, I just read your posting about the tomato planting. I am intrigued & want to try it. About this comfrey bocking 14, how many would I need to buy to make tea for my garden? I have found these plants are sold in the US.
I have Symphytum officinale - common comfrey, haven't seen the Bocking 14 around here. It grows very quickly so any leaves I cut off are replaced in a short time. I haven't made tea with it yet but I have cut off leaves to lay on the soil or tear up and put in the planting hole when putting in new plants. I don't about other places but The Growers Exchange is where I got mine several years ago and I am thinking about ordering a couple more to plant out back.
Hiya CAYUGA-- I have five plants...I planted them two years ago and have used these for the first time this year. The first harvest of the season was waaaaaay too much. Well too much? Not really. As the season wears on, I shall need more and more to feed the ravenous tom plants. I use this to feed the toms, courgettes and cucumber plants. Before I got the Bocking 14's I used the "normal' wild comfrey plants. I will still suppliment my teas with that. **One thing is---I wouldn't harvest any leaves or stems from your new plants the first season. I would give them that first year to establish themselves and develop a really good root system. That's what I did. After the initial one or two years then you can dig down and take some root cuttings to make more plants if you feel that you do not have enough. I got MY root bits in October and planted them in individual pots, and placed them on the bedroom windowsill (west-facing) and left them until the following spring. I gave them a modicum of water (to the bottom, not on the soil's surface) now and then throughout the winter. In May, I set them out and they went bananas that first year with leaves as broad as my palm and as long as my forearm. --Just what I wanted. At the end of that first year I cut off the dry, brown stems and leaves and let them fall onto the ground where they grew, as a sort of mulch, if you will. The rest is history. ----Addendum: In a normal season you ought to be able to harvest the stems and leaves 2-4 times depending upon the weather and the length of your zone's growing season. TONI--It is good to hear that you have been using the comfrey. It is such good stuff, isn't it. The way you have been using the leaves works well for me too.
Thanks so much, KATE....you have an eye for detail. hahaha That would be handy, CAYUGA. Fingers crossed for you.
Thanks so much, KATE....you have an eye for detail. hahaha They reminded me of some I saw on Twitter last year, they were toilet roll innners. K
Hard to say Sjoerd, as I didn't do a 'test area'. But last year I had the best tomato harvest EVER. Not sure if it was Jerry Bakers secret formula or the comfrey tea, or a combination of the 2, but I am trying to do things exactly the same way for another great tomato harvest this year.
