Growing and Using Comfrey in Your Garden

There are a number of reasons you should be growing comfrey. Comfrey is hardy to Zone 4, does well in full sun or partial shade and once established, can easily grow to four feet or more, with large grey-green leaves and delicate purple flowers. As a plant, comfrey will add interest and beauty to your garden, but its usefulness extends beyond its aesthetic appeal. Both the flowers and the leaves can play an important role in improving the yield and quality of your vegetable garden. 

Planted now, Comfrey will establish through the rest of the growing season and bloom in late April or early May, offering important forage for bumblebees and other pollinators. Flowering will continue through the greater part of the summer, encouraging pollinators to stop by your tomatoes, peppers, squash and other vegetables, improving blossom set and increasing yields. The leaves of the comfrey plant can also be utilized to improve your vegetable garden. Comfrey leaves hold rich deposits of nitrogen and potassium and can be used in a number of ways to feed your plants as well as improve your garden soil. You can begin harvesting comfrey leaves when the plant is about two feet tall. Cut the leaves down to within a few inches of the crown. The plant will rebound quickly, sending out another set of leaves. In fact, you should be able to harvest comfrey leaves three or more times during the course of the season. Once harvested, comfrey leaves can be utilized as a mulch, a green manure or you can make a tea or fermented plant juice out of them. Mulching your tomatoes and vegetables with comfrey leaves is easy. Simply place several inches of leaves around the base of your plants. This will act as a mulch to hold moisture in and prevent weed from germinating. As the leaves break down, they will slowly release nitrogen and potassium to your plant’s roots.

 If you want to comfrey’s nutrients faster, brew some tea. Simply cut up the leaves, place them in a clear jar, add water and set in the sun. They’ll brew just like sun tea. In a few hours, you’ll see the liquid start to turn brown, indicating the brewing process is working. After 32 to 48 hours, your brew should be ready to use. There are three advantages to doing your tea this way. It’s quick. You normally don’t have to dilute the solution to use it and it doesn’t smell. You can ferment comfrey leaves and achieve a stronger solution, but the process takes weeks and the end result has a strong, disgusting smell. Comfrey can also be used to energize your compost pile. Layering comfrey cuttings in with your compost is an effective way to jumpstart decomposition. At the end of the season, lay your final comfrey leaf harvest on top of the garden and cover it with compost or earth worm castings. It’s a great way to improve the soil through the winter.  

Now is the Time to Plant Hardy Hibiscus

This is the time in the growing season that one of the most spectacular flowering perennials begins to bloom. Hibiscus x moscheutos or hardy Hibiscus are tough, resilient perennials that can take our winters and come back strong. Sometimes called rose mallow, these cold-hardy woody-based perennials were developed from native plants and are now hardy down to Zone 4. Hardy hibiscus like their place in the sun, so select a site in the garden where they'll get as much sun as possible. They can be grown in partial shade, such as an East-facing location, but the flower production may not be as great. 

Once established, hardy hibiscus can easy grow 6' high and 6' across so keep this in mind when you're choosing a planting spot. If you don't have room for a full-sized plant, there are dwarf varieties of hardy hibiscus that only get about 3' tall and 3' wide. Hardy hibiscus like well drained soils, so prepare the planting site by mixing compost and peat moss with your existing soil at the rate of about 50:50. Add some Root Stimulator to the planting hole to ensure good root production. Planted now, you should get flowers yet this season. Hardy hibiscus flowers only last a day, but the flower production will go on all season, right up to first frost. In our area, the canes will die back after the first hard frost. When they do die back, cut the canes to the ground. Water the root ball occasionally during the winter. Hardy hibiscus plants are among the last to emerge in the spring, so give them plenty of time. Too often, people think the plant has died over the winter when in fact it's still alive, just dormant and slow to emerge. Some of the spectacular varieties of hardy hibiscus include: 

‘Dark Mystery’ 

‘Candy Crush’ 

Planting hardy hibiscus will add unique color to your garden landscape for many seasons to come.