((Serious Gardening))

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
I started some comfrey this year so I can make a non chicken poo fertilizer especially for those and other plants that have a higher chance of e-coli or samonella. I should be able to harvest it once every month or so through the growing season (may have to take a break during the bad heat of the summer)

 

[galanie]

Quote:
I started some comfrey this year so I can make a non chicken poo fertilizer especially for those and other plants that have a higher chance of e-coli or samonella. I should be able to harvest it once every month or so through the growing season (may have to take a break during the bad heat of the summer)

Interesting! How will you convert it into fertilizer? Dry and crumble or ferment or?? Edit: Googled it lol. I didn't konw about this! Now I'll have to order me some Comfrey!

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
I started some comfrey this year so I can make a non chicken poo fertilizer especially for those and other plants that have a higher chance of e-coli or samonella. I should be able to harvest it once every month or so through the growing season (may have to take a break during the bad heat of the summer)

Interesting! How will you convert it into fertilizer? Dry and crumble or ferment or?? Edit: Googled it lol. I didn't konw about this! Now I'll have to order me some Comfrey!

It can also be allowed to wilt and given as fodder to chickens and goats (and other animal) especially the bocking varieties. I got rootings for the bocking 14. The bocking ones aren't invasive their seeds are sterile.

 

[grawg]

Quote:
Have you tried malabar spinach or new zealand spinach yet? Also, another green I had never thought about was sweet potato leaves. Not much flavor but green nonetheless.

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
Have you tried malabar spinach or new zealand spinach yet? Also, another green I had never thought about was sweet potato leaves. Not much flavor but green nonetheless.

Those are on my list of greens along w/ amaraynth (both types for grain and greens). I thought sweet potato plants were poisonous? I just did a google search and not only are they not poisonous they are full of over 15 antioxidents. Guess I'll add those to my list for next year too.

 

[grawg]

Malabar spinach is an interesting green. I would recommend harvesting the small leaves and mixing them with other greens in a salad as they have a somewhat mucous-like consistency. My ducks seemed to enjoy the leaves as well.

I did some google "research" on comfrey and now I'm going to have to order some too... do you let you birds eat the comfrey?

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
I will, this was my first year w/ the roots and I planted them late summer so the man I bought them from said not to harvest them until next year. He feeds them to his chickens and goats and has for many years w/o problems. I think it is also common in Europe (from research not personal knowledge) to feed comfrey.

I am trying many kinds of greens to find what will work in my area and what I like, everything I try that I don't like becomes chicken greens, and if it does exceptionally well and I don't like it it will be permenant chicken greens.

 

[galanie]

I grew Malabar or New Zealand Spinach this summer and while it was super nice to have crunchy greens to eat during 109 degree weather, I didn't really care for the taste all that much. The India spinach beet tastes much better in my opinion and grows during the hot weather as well. I suspect both will bolt in late spring though, my New Zealand spinach did, and after all, they have to bolt sometime or you'd never have seeds.

Got my Russian Comfrey roots and they're in the ground! And coming up. I'm going to mulch them super thick and hope the cold doesn't ruin them, though we probably won't get a real frost for a few weeks yet. Just kills me to see that tender new growth NOW. I should've thought of that before I order them but I was excited to get them lol.

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
Mine have been in the ground for over a month maybe close to two now, and we had a hard freeze night before last and they are great still green and pretty. (russian comfrey). I planted spinach mustard this year and it was awesome through the hot drought, and it survived the hard freeze we just had too. It has gone to seed now, but that's okay I need the seeds. I didn't care for the taste either, but it makes a great chicken green, green mulch for the garden.

 

[Tab003]

Comfrey is a great plant I have been growing it for 10 years. I feed it to all the animals about once a week--also dry it and add it to the bunnies hay in the winter weekly.
Good luck w/ the new plants.