Comfrey to me was always ‘boneset’; that’s the name I knew it by – it has been well known as a remedy for broken bones since the Middle Ages.
I also knew it as being carried for protection on a journey.
These days it is better known for its excellence as a fertilizer.
I would not have it in my garden. Happily, there is tons of the stuff rampaging around a corner of my mother’s garden, which is much bigger than mine.
Basically, Comfrey is a hairy beast and the common variety is rampant. It will grow almost anywhere, but flourishes in moist soil and in shady areas. The roots are very brittle, and a small broken piece of root will quite happily grow wherever it happens to land in your garden.
As a plant, it puts on quite a show that can start as early as April, the blooms coming in white, mauve, and rose, although purple is by far the most prevalent colour.
There are ornamental varieties available, which are often introduced as ground cover in a garden. Personally, I would not take the risk, tigers do not change their spots, but then again, I haven’t tried any of them. Another variety which claims to stay pretty much where you put it is the Russian variety Bocking 14. Russian varieties are favoured at the moment because they have high levels of protein and allantoin – so what? I hear you ask.
Allantoin aids cell regeneration. It is used in quite a lot of cosmetic applications but, interestingly, it is usually obtained from the natural secretions of snails who use the stuff to regenerate their shells. Nice.
How this little gem of information ties in with the fact that Comfrey is a good slug trap, I am not sure. How closely are slugs and snails related, or are they simply thrown together, along with puppy dogs tails to make little boys?
But I digress, if you have comfrey in your garden, the slugs will all go there for the evening and leave the rest of your plants alone – unless of course, you have laid beer on for them in which case, they will all drown.
The proteins are important for the fertilizer issues. Comfrey leaves are stuffed full of proteins, vitamins A, C and B-12, and potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and phosphorus.
The composted leaves will return all their goodness to your soil, or you can make a liquid fertilizer by covering the leaves with water and leaving it to, essentially stagnate, for 2-4 weeks. The result, after squeezing all the goodness out of the leaves, should be diluted with water before being used as a soil drench. Roughly a third of a cup to a gallon of water does the trick.
So, useful plant as it is for the gardener, I would be hesitant to grow it myself unless I had a large garden.
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