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The secrets of comfrey revealed
Want to grow awesome potatoes and tomatoes? MAT COWARD has a suggestion
PERFECT COMBINATION: (L to R) Comfrey Bocking 14 and Bumble Bee on comfrey flowers
[(L to R) Finchj/CC and Anne Burgess/CC]
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I DON’T think you can get a better bumblebee plant for the garden than Russian comfrey (Symphytum × uplandicum). Bumbles of various species work its plentiful, pendulous, blue-purple flowers all day long, from early spring until autumn.
Of course, the usual reason for growing comfrey is that the leaves are used to make a valuable fertiliser, green manure, or mulch. They are a rich source of nitrogen, phosphorous and especially potassium, and particularly useful when applied to tomatoes and potatoes.
If you know someone who’s already got a mature comfrey patch it’s very easy to take cuttings. Using a spade, slice down through the centre of a plant, splitting it in two. Dig out one half, and that’s your new plant.
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