I know I know some of you are saying that @hopfarm must be crazy for mistaking a comfrey plant for a mining rig. But once you hear what this plant is doing during its life cycle and what it can do for you, you’ll understand where I’m coming from.

                                  About Comfrey

   Comfrey is such a great miner of nutrients and minerals. It mines its nutrients from deep in the ground with a long tap root that can reach up to 30 feet, depending on the soil. Pulling up all kinds of  trace minerals to the surface and storing them in the leaves and flowers. Comfrey is high in nitrogen, phosphorus and has three times the amount of potassium as the average plant. It is high in Calcium and vitamin C also one of the few plants that contains vitamin B12. Planting comfrey around other plants works very well because the comfrey will mine different root zones and not have to compete with the abundance of shallow root plants.   

                               Medical Properties

   Comfrey has been used as medicine for thousands of years. It is said to simulates healing.  The old name for comfrey was  “knitbone” or “boneset” for its ability to help quicken the healing of broken bones. Comfrey roots and leaves contain allantoin, a substance that helps new skin cells grow, along with other substances that reduce inflammation and keep skin healthy. So it makes a great skin ointment. Comfrey was used in its  herbal tea form to help treating stomach problems, heavy menstrual periods, diarrhea, bloody urine, cough and even cancer and chest pain.

                               Gardening Uses

 One of the best way to use comfrey is as a fertiliser. The easiest way is to simply cut the leaves off and place them around your trees or plants to let them rot in place. Placing the leaves around your plants and trees will also help with water retention and bring in earthworms to where you need them most. The comfrey leaves are great in a compost pile. Our chickens, pigs and Ducks love to eat it as well. Comfrey can be cut about 4 times a year and it is a perennial so it will come back every year. The purple flowers attract pollinators from far away. The list goes on and on for the benefits of comfrey. Very simple but very effective.

                                Comfree tea

   How I decided to use comfrey is by making a comfrey tea fertiliser. I am showing the end product in these pictures. This method is quite simple. Just need comfrey, water and time. Made a little over 5 gallons of concentrated liquid fertilizer in this go-round.

• Cut the leaves and flowers off of the plant. 
• Place them in a bucket of water. Make sure the leaves are completely covered with water and there is at least a few inches of water above the leaves. Cover for 3 to 6 weeks. The colder the weather the longer it will take.
• Strain out the liquid into containers to store it in

 This will make a concentrate in which I usually use a 5-1 raisho. Five part water one part comfrey tea. A cool thing about comfrey tea is that you can’t give your plants a overdose like you could with a chemical fertilizer. You can also use it as a foliar spray before fruiting. Just a forewarning, comfrey tea does not smell appetizing in the slightest bit..lol..You do not want to get this on you trust me. Hope this inspires you to make your own fertilizer.

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