Will I be sorry?

Meet my comfrey plant.  I am not sure what kind it is.  I do not think it is a bocking 14, which they say is a sterile comfrey.

 

 

I only purchased the one because I felt that I could propagate it if it doesn't self seed this year.

 

 

It is a rather lovely plant, isn't it?  I bought it from a small, local nursery.  He had lots of people as for it last year, so he got some, but wasn't sure why they wanted it.  I told him that I was looking for a local source for it to use in my compost pile.  He said he was going to look into that.

 

 

Then, I asked at another nursery and when I did, the owner said, "why do you want a weed?  I have plenty of those by my compost pile, if you want some, I'll dig them up for you,"

 



 



I planted this one at the top of the yard near the new compost pile.  In that part of the yard, there really isn't much but weeds that grow there already.  What's another "weed"?  Only with this one, I will use the leaves in my compost pile and around my garden beds as mulch.

 



Comfrey has many uses in the garden.  I have clipped a few from WIKIpedia that explain why I wanted the plant in my garden and the uses for it.

Comfrey is a particularly valuable source of fertility to the organic gardener. It is very deep rooted and acts as a dynamic accumulator,^[7] mining a host of nutrients from the soil. These are then made available through its fast-growing leaves (up to 4-5 pounds per plant per cut) which, lacking fibres, quickly break down to a thick black liquid. There is also no risk of nitrogen robbery when comfrey is dug into the soil as the C:N ratio of the leaves is lower than that of well-rotted compost. Comfrey is an excellent source of potassium, an essential plant nutrient needed for flower, seed and fruit production. Its leaves contain 2-3 times more potassium than farmyard manure, mined from deep in the subsoil, tapping into reserves that would not normally be available to plants.^[8]
There are various ways in which comfrey can be used as a fertilizer. These include:^{[9] [10]}

• Comfrey as a compost activator - include comfrey in the compost heap to add nitrogen and help to heat the heap. Comfrey should not be added in quantity as it will quickly break down into a dark sludgy liquid that needs to be balanced with more fibrous, carbon-rich material.
• Comfrey liquid fertilizer - can be produced by either rotting leaves down in rainwater for 4–5 weeks to produce a ready-to-use 'comfrey tea', or by stacking dry leaves under a weight in a container with a hole in the base. When the leaves decompose a thick black comfrey concentrate is collected. This must be diluted at 15:1 before use.
• Comfrey as a mulch or side dressing - a two-inch layer of comfrey leaves placed around a crop will slowly break down and release plant nutrients; it is especially useful for crops that need extra potassium, such as fruit bearers but also reported to do well for potatoes. Comfrey can be slightly wilted before application optionally but either way, avoid using flowering stems as these can root.
• Comfrey as a companion plant for trees and other perennials. Soil tests confirm^[11] that soil nutrients increase in the presence of comfrey even when it is not used as mulch, side dressing, or liquid fertilizer, but just allowed to grow.
• Comfrey potting mixture - originally devised to utilize peat, now environmental awareness has led to a leaf mold-based alternative being adopted instead; two year old, well decayed leaf mold should be used, this will absorb the nutrient-rich liquid released by the decaying comfrey. In a black plastic sack alternate 7–10 cm (3-4 inch) layers of leaf mold and chopped comfrey leaves. Add a little dolomitic limestone to slightly raise pH. Leave for between 2–5 months depending on the season, checking that it does not dry out or become too wet. The mixture is ready when the comfrey leaves have rotted and are no longer visible. Use as a general potting compost, although it is too strong for seedlings

I am not really sure how well this will do where I have planted it as the area is on top of a large boulder and only has a 2 inch layer of dirt on top.  I say dirt because it is an area that I have not gotten to yet, however, I did mange to put some newly made compost from the yard and the free compost I get from the county on to it and around it and it has since flowered and seems to be doing better.

I would love to know what your thoughts are, won't you leave a comment?  Thank you.

Compost - never thought there was so much to know(learn)

I mentioned in a previous post about my reading books about gardening and related subjects.  In my side bar, I've listed those that I have read.  The list will grow, as I am reading about three right now, in different parts of the house.  (I mentioned books could be an issue, didn't I?)

Right now, I'm reading "Gardening when it counts" by Steve Solomon.  A very good and thorough book.  If you want a lot of semi-technical knowledge, this will be a good read.

Chapter 7 is all about Compost.  I never knew there was so much to be concerned aobut.  I thought you just take the "brown" and "green" layer them with some dirt and manure and water and BAM! you have compost.

That's what I've done.

But he goes on to talk about what nutrients will be brought to your soil with the compost you make.  If you just use what you have available, it's okay, but to make better compost, you have to put more thought into what you put into your compost pile.  Which does make sense.

If you only have marginal vegetation to add, you will be putting marginal nutrients into your pile.  Kind of like the saying, "Garbage in, garbage out."

Never thought of that in regards to a compost pile.

I am not a scientific person, by any stretch.  So some of the things he talks about, I really don't understand, but what I do understand is that perhaps I need to add some things to my compost pile so that I, or rather, my soil, get the most out of the making of the pile.

Do you have any thoughts to share about this?

Compost

Yes, winter is "almost" here in the North Eastern part of the United States.  It is a few days away, according to the calendar, but it has felt like winter for a few weeks now.

I'm thinking about compost.  I guess, once a person begins to garden, their thoughts are never truly far away from the soil of their garden.

One of the books I took out of the library is "The Rodale Book of Composting" Deborah L. Martin and Grace Gershuny, Editors.  The copyright of the book is 1992, so while the information in it is 21 years old, I am sure there are a few things that I can glean from the book that will help me to better understand how to "grow my soil".

Did you know, there is actually a "history" of composting?  I didn't, but I'm not going to go in to that here.

I wanted to share just one topic from the book today that I found interesting and have never really given thought to. In Chapter 5, there is a section called "from trash to treasure", here is what I wanted to share:

Up to 75% of household garbage is derived from organic matter and, theoretically, can be composted.  If you include sewage sludge, the rate is even higher.  Even if the finished product were simply dumped into a landfill, composting would realize savings because the sheer bulk of the material would be reduced by almost half.  Furthermore, it would no longer pose a toxic leachate problem, requiring expensive liners and test wells.  Using the resulting compost to build healthy soil can be regarded as an added bonus.

I never really thought of this one before.  Granted the book is 20 + years old, but I always thought that any food waste in my garbage can would decompose and make soil in the landfill.  I'm wrong about that and I have to try to be a better steward of my resources.

I never thought that by composting my organic matter it would help, not only my garden, but would also help my community by lowering the cost to haul away my garbage.

I do know that my community does offer yard waste recycling.  Those pick ups are only done during the summer and fall months of the year, the rest of the time, if you put out yard waste, they just throw it into the garbage truck. 

Compost conserves energy because it supplies soil nutrients without calling on fossil fuel support.  It saves energy because it can be made on the farm and in the garden, requiring no transportation from a factory.  It saves energy because it is waste recycled via a very short route - so short as the distance from the kitchen to the backyard compost heap.  Even the organic debris of an entire city can be recycled and returned to the land without leaving the metropolitan area.  Compare this system with the one we have been following since World War II, and you begin to see not only a major root of our current solid wastes and energy problems, but a solution to those problems as well. 

And, it saves energy!  I never thought of this one either.

Before the winter weather arrived, we began our first compost pile in our yard.  I am so looking forward to using it in our garden next season.  And reading just these two paragraphs in this book has got me thinking about better ways for me to use all the organic material I can from our yard to compost it to make soil and to save money and energy.

Isn't it amazing how when you start to do one thing, so many other things open up to you?

Look for a future post about this project.