Fantabulous Comfrey!

Comfery (Symphytum officinale) is one of these amazing plants that every farm, orchard and garden should have.  It is super easy to grow, easily propgated, mostly disease free, and has many useful properties.  Here are a few:

-To use as a mulch, grow comfrey in a ring around fruit trees.  It grows rapidly and can be slashed back often (four to five times a year) to create a mulch and weed barrier around trees.  It’s best harvested when around 2 or so feet high.

-The leaves are high in nitrogen, making it a useful green (hot) material to add to a compost pile.

-Leaves can be used to make a wonderful foliar spray (tea).  To make: cut leaves and leave in a bucket of water for a few weeks.  When they are fully rotted and the water is a dark blackish color, it’s ready.  Dilute 15:1 and water or spray on plants.

-The beautiful purple flowers are loved by pollinators.

-The roots and leaves have great medicinal properties.  Comfrey can be used to make poultices (leaves) and salves (roots and leaves).  Comfrey contains allantoin, which is thought to stimulate cell growth and repair while simultaneously depressing inflammation.  One of the old-time common names for comfrey is “knitbone” because it is known to have great healing properties for broken bones.

New plants grow easily from root segments.  To plant: bury root pieces about 2 inches below the surface in just about any type of soil and water periodically until you see some leaves shooting up.  Comfery can grow even in a heavy clay, and helps encourage soil life with it’s shading and mulching leaves.

To find comfrey plants or products for sale in your area, check Pick-A-Pepper.com!

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