You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: EMBARRASSING MISTAKES CAN BE VALUABLE LESSONS
Ah well...yes, the trials of gardening. I've planted what I thought was one thing only to have it be something totally different before! This summer I very nearly planted wild comfrey instead of the sterile variety and THAT would've been a giant pain. I only avoided that one by the skin of my teeth, but usually I end up planting first and finding out later.
It is a beautiful bush - is there any way to just prune it back and keep it as a miniature tamarisk?
There probably is. But it has very "leggy" branches. I'm not sure if they don't want to be long. Although how that becomes a tree remains a mystery. Funnily enough I planted an elder on the opposite side, thinking I would keep it pruned back....it has become a huge tree and babies keep springing up! Much to my father-in-laws disgust. The bugs love it. Which means they stay away from the gardens.
How do you use your comfrey @lturner? I have many uses for comfrey but always curious to hear from others
Well, I haven't used the comfrey for anything as of yet - I planted a very tiny root crown and it's just a baby plant right now.
But I plan to use it initially as a fertilizer plant for the garden. If the plant gets big enough, I hope to split off more crowns and have enough to use it as straight mulch and make comfrey tea for liquid fertilizer.
After that...well, haven't had enough experience with it to know! I just discovered it this summer and will have to find some uses for it now that it's in the yard.
What do you use it for?
Comfrey is fantastic for gardens. I try to plant it around the edges - it can become like a weed though. When I first discovered comfrey, years ago, it was by the term and for the application "knit bone". So when there is an injury - human or animal I crush and bandage up. It works fantastically. I've used it on myself and not too long ago on a lamb. He was orphaned and came running to me as I was milking our cow. Poor Molly stood on him and dislocated his leg. We popped it back in and then strapped it up with a comfrey poultice. I dosed him with Golden Paste for a few weeks and he was frolicking within days. Comfrey is also high in calcium so ideal for both chickens and goats. They love it. I have found that you need to train chickens from young as the older hens won't touch it without persuasion unless they grew up eating it
I've heard of Boneset before! I didn't realize it was probably comfrey. Makes sense that it would contain calcium; and most herbs that contain calcium also seem to enhance calcium absorption (like red raspberry leaves).
The chickens are probably saying, "What, you expect us to eat SALAD now?"
That is so funny. Our chickens on the other hand are saying "What? You are wearing our salad?" Yip very similar to red raspberry