GardenHacker:
not your typical seedy site...

Weekend Update for the New Year

I'm going to be revamping this site at some point to make it more user friendly, and probably move the blog into it's own space, which will mean moving to a new provider Free has it's price, and I'm tired of jumping through hoops to get thing on the site in a timely fashion. That being said...

Comfrey has been noted for being a great resource for the garden. Getting comfrey if you don't have a neighbor who already has it, can be a little daunting. I first got some seeds, hoping to start a whole row right off the bat. After four weeks inside, nothing showed up. I then went to eBay, bid on a couple and straight out bought a couple using the buy-it-now option. I got outbid on the first set, the second set came in fine, and the vendor echoed my findings - comfrey seed is not viable. But it must be viable somehow - nature doesn't go to all the trouble to make seeds just to have them become fodder. So, currently I've got an email into the seed vendor, and am taking my own initiative and freezing a set to mimic the environment they'd normally be in. Stay tuned for the progress. in Growing and Using Comfrey - the Spice of Garden Compost, The-Organic-Gardener states "You can make a concentrated liquid containing all of the big 3 nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, in substantial amounts. A high potash feed, it has an *N : P : K of about 8 : 2.6 : 20.5 %." - They go on to state that you have to dilute your final product at a 1:15 (one part comfrey liquid to 15 parts water) or a 1:20 ratio before you use it.

According to and article in gomestics.com from my favortie podcaster Emma Cooper , "Comfrey leaves are high in potash, a valuable plant food that is ideal for potatoes and fruiting plants like tomatoes and peppers. It is easy to make comfrey into a liquid feed that is easily applied to vegetables and rapidly absorbed by plants." Emma goes on to mention the less odiferous way to make liquid comfrey fertilizer is to use a container with a lid and let it decompose over several weeks. The resulting brown liquid needs to be diluted a 1:10 ratio

In The Weekend Gardener's article The Many Uses of Comfrey Leaves, they state that you can "Use the leaves themselves as fertilizer: Just chop up the leaves and place around the garden. You can also trench dig. Dig a trench as deep and long as you require, then half fill the trench with chopped up comfrey leaves, replace the soil, then sow your seeds on top. As the leaves decompose they will feed your plants the nutrients they require. "

They can also be used as a ..."Mulch. Freshly cut comfrey leaves make good mulch because they're high in nitrogen, so they don't pull nitrogen from the soil while decomposing, as high-carbon mulches like straw and leaves do." In the article Comfrey Power, organicgardening.com sums up the uses quite nicely.

Other articles include http://www.north-west-dahlias.co.uk/comfrey.htm

Baa from DavesGarden.com states "The plant can also be chopped up and added to the compost heap, its quite high in potash. Liquid comfrey fertilizer is best when it is made from S. xuplandicum but S. officinale can also be used in the same way." I've only found officinale myself, and wonder what the differences are.

---

I'd brought a tomato plant inside in October, and it's done it's best to stay alive with the minimal fluorescent light and the slightly cooler temps in the back room. It actually produced from flower six ripe tomatoes, though quite small. There are more on the vine, but the plant is definitely suffering from other maladies - it looks like a geek tomato plant: complexion is blotchy and pale, not much growth anywhere, empty cans of cola strewn about - oops - last one's my fault. Next fall if all/most goes well with spring cleaning, I'll hang the outdoor tomato plants upside down in the garage instead and grow cherry tomatoes inside.

The not-so-hydroponic salad greens are s-l-o-w to grow. That was true outside as well, so I've started another batch in another bin, hoping that they'll be faster. I'd run out of Black Seeded Simpson lettuce, so I've planted mache, spinach and "ButterCrunch" lettuce. 10 days later, they're showing signs of life.