What did you do in the garden today?

[Sill]

Was gifted some herbs, cat nip, oregano, thym and comfrey, planted them... What do you do with comfrey? Any one grow it?

It's excellent as a soil builder. Chop and drop it to mulch the area to build nutrients and conserve soil moisture. It also brings minerals deep in the soil to the surface that are "mined" by the tap roots and once the leaves are mulched returns the nutrients to the surface for other plants to use. Comfrey is especially suited for making excellent compost because the leaves break down quickly and have a high nutrient content.

 

[Proverb31mama]

This week I have been thinning/ moving plants. Kale, lettuce, cabbage, pumpkins, etc. also planted 24 more strawberry plants. And weeding, lots of weeding. And watering. Hope to finish thinning the plants this week. Then maybe I can get some mulch and put that down. My gardening is weekly tasks because I have 3 small children and appointments to work around .

 

[HerbGir1972]

Darn goats escaped and ate everything except pumpkins and sunflowers

 

[3goodeggs]

oh dear. Very sorry.

 

[hennible]

Oh crappy herb girl

 

[FridayYet]

Darn goats escaped and ate everything except pumpkins and sunflowers

Oh that really sucks...

 

[A-K-A]

As goat owner and a gardner. Sorry to hear that.

 

[Oliver Douglas]

Picked the first ripe peach in the orchard of the house we moved into last year. Figured if the squirrels are eating them, we should, too.

 

[Arielle]

Ate a few kale leaves. Planted a Pineapple tomato to replace the black cherry tomato that didnt make it. I suspect a hose accident. Weeded the spinach-- it is bolting!! WTH?? Tossed weeds to rabbit.

Sun arrived to day-- 68 degrees and sunny. Much warmer than the last 2 days!!

 

[lazy gardener]

I have Russian Comfrey growing in the back. Its one of the sterile kinds that do not set seed and I bought roots to get them going. They are in their own bed, since I read I will never be able to dig all the roots out once they are established, and they'll keep coming back from the root pieces!

True comfrey sets seeds and I have heard it really spreads and takes over. Be careful where you plant it, too.

I'll be using my as a compost activator and to make healing salves. People used it for fodder and medicinal teas, but recent studies showed that it can damage the liver so the current recommendation is for external use only.

Have you actually read those studies? My understanding is that the amount of the chemical they're talking about is not that high in the plant, so one would have to ingest an awful lot of it in order to have any impact. The reading I've done leads me to believe it's not much of an issue, if any at all. Also, the Russian comfrey (I think it's Bocking #14) is much lower in the chemical than a lot of the other cultivars. Read the actual studies, and make an informed decision. I plan to use mine for compost, salve, chicken feed, and may actually try eating a bit.