Comfrey again.

I had to dig up some comfrey the other day and just wondered instead of putting it all on the compost heap I dug some of the leaves in around a few climbing Rose plants.
What are your thoughts on this valuable plant food and is it a good idea to actually dig it in ?

 

I have a number of comfrey plants that I tend to cut the shoots and leaves off when the flowers have finished and it usually sends up fresh shoots with new flowers after, when the weather is still warm enough for it to be actively growing. I don't really bother bringing it to the compost heap and just cut it up and leave it as a mulch on any bare spot of ground I can find near to where it was growing. As a mulch it seems to disappear fairly quickly and I assume the nutrients are incorporated in to the soil as it breaks down.

Might it be a better idea just to leave yours on the soil near the roses? I think roses benefit a lot from getting a regular mulch of organic material. I would be afraid of damaging the roots of the established rose plants when digging it in and don't think the digging would really help much with it breaking down as it seems to be fairly easily decomposed from what I see from my own garden.

Happy gardening!

 

I harvest my comfrey bed about three times a year. I chop the stems and leaves up and put them in a plastic bin covering them with water and leave to soak until spring when I decant in containers for use as plant (mainly tomato) feed. I've made a filter for when I do the decanting as it helps catch seeds that haven't decayed and might sprout in the soil.
When I first started making comfrey liquid feed I soaked in quite a lot of water and made gallons of the stuff, but it was heavy to lug about, so now I use much less water and produce a much more concentrated end-product that I dilute before applying.