Concerning Comfrey:

 

I grow comfrey for many reasons. It an extremely hardy, strong and drought tolerant plant that propagates well. It blooms for a significant portion of the growing season and with it's potential medicinal properties, it makes a great pollinator feed.  I've even heard comfrey referred to as "the miracle plant. This one shown in the picture is the largest comfrey plant I have and as usual, it's loaded with bees.

Comfrey has a deep taproot system that can bring minerals up from deep underground and grows many large mineral-rich leaves quickly.

I use comfrey mainly as to make a "tea" for fertilizer and I compost a lot of the leaves too. Some people have used comfrey as a poultice to help heal cuts, burns, sprains and even broken bones, but I have no idea how well it works. Some say that it makes a good mineral supplement for certain grazing animals as well. Certain compounds in the plant make it somewhat toxic to humans, so I don't eat it..... much! 😉

Some varieties of comfrey have been notorious for spreading all over the place and taking over, but if you get the variety I have, it is sterile and only propagates by root division. Bocking 14 is the name of the variety I have. 

Comfrey wasn't available at any garden stores I visited, but a friend reccomended a local garden nursery. When I went there the first time, an old woman came out of the house and told me she was closed. When I came back the next time, the same woman was outside working and I had to track her down and ask if she had comfrey. She said she had some and led me arond the barn with her shovel in hand. We came up to one large comfrey cluster and she dug out a few sprigs of it with a little bit of roots on the end of them. I wasn't sure if they would be strong enough to make it home, but she was certain that they would be fine.

Well, the plants survived to say the least. They're very easy to care for and grow like no other. I usually cut them 2 or 3 times a year to freshen them up and use the leaves.