Yes! We have no potatoes...yet...

[MiHale]

The weather has seemingly moderated itself here in northern Michigan. Ground temps are holding at 60 degrees everything is getting ready for planting.

Yesterday started by cutting down a 60 foot maple tree way too close to the house. The potatoes that we started back in April in the greenhouse graduated, moving outside to finish up in a few months.
Then SURPRISE!! Our asparagus made their entry into the daylight…tonight’s salad addition. My wife got an entire bed of onions in the ground along with peas and radish. Getting the straw bale beds ready today for their visitors that will arrive a little later. Bales have been conditioned and overwintered. Comfrey is almost ready for the first harvest. It’ll be used for fertilizing during the season.
Busy days coming.



Potatoes, raspberries, strawberries in back beds, straw bales.



Asparagus.



Onion bed. Straw bales behind are the future home of green beans.



Comfrey.



It’s not just all about the veggies…we do flowers too.

[BoRaGard]

1. .

[Diamond_Dog]

2. Very nice, MiHale!

Just think of the nutritious and tasty bounty you’ll have in a few months!

What do you use the comfrey for? Do you make tea with it?

[MiHale]

3. Comfrey used for 2 purposes...

Medicinally …I make an infused coconut oil balm for aches and pains sometimes I mix in Meadowsweet with the comfrey for an additional boost. It is advised not to use comfrey internally…I personally limit use of the balm also as it is absorbed through the skin.
Primary use is as a fertilizer… comfrey has an extremely deep tap root that pulls minerals and nutrients from deep in the ground that are not readily available for most veggies. It has an excellent Carbon to Nitrogen balance so it won’t hamper the nitrogen uptake of the veggies. It’s also rich in calcium and potash. Better root development and flower set.
I use it two ways as fertilizer…dry and wet.
Dry…I harvest the leaves chop into smaller pieces and allow to dry. Then use a food blender to get it into a finer grain state and use as a soil amendment while rehabbing used soil and as a side dressing during the growing cycle.
Wet…the stems and leaves are roughly chopped an placed in a 5 gallon bucket with water and allowed to steep.
I use that water as a foliar feed and general spray on fertilizer like you would use miracle grow.

On edit…
PLUS!…IT’S FREE!

[Diamond_Dog]

4. Wow, that is fascinating. Thank you!

I thought I’d remembered some warning against comfrey taken internally now that you mention it. We used to have several large comfrey plants growing out back in the woods, I always wondered if it was good for some use.

[MiHale]

6. There are two kinds ...well kinda

Bocking 14 Russian Comfrey does not spread like common comfrey. I have the Russian, it is not invasive like common comfrey. But it is a bear to get rid of if you don’t want it in the area it’s growing in, any small part of the root that’s left in ground will give you a new plant.
I got mine from my sister…she didn’t realize that property of the roots. She bought a new house and started to redo the gardens…she tilled over the comfrey bed the previous owner had and chopped all those roots into smaller pieces each of which produced a new plant…boy was she pi$$ed. I was a beneficiary of her mistake as well as about 15 neighbors that I shared root with.

Both have the same good benefits but Bocking is not invasive. It is sterile and needs us to spread it.

[lark]

5. Comfrey also removes infections quite well!

I cut my finger badly one am before work and just washed it off and bandaged it. By the time I got home that evening, it looked infected. Hubs had read about comfreys antiobiotic properties, so we put some in a pot with some water and got it cooked down and sludgy, then bandaged my finger with it with some gauze around it. I could immediately feel it pulling out the infection and cooling my hot finger down. I used compresses of this 2-3 times a day and within 2 (maybe 3?) days the swelling and inffection were all gone and m finger looked normal. This stuff is the bomb!!!

[MiHale]

7. Yes it is...

Before I had my hip replaced I was bone to bone…after a days activity the pain was great. I applied whole leaf comfrey and wrapped with plastic wrap to hold in place. Kinda bruised the leaves heavily to release the juice.
Left it on for about an hour…ready to go next day.
Still got the hip replaced…even nature has limits.

[wendyb-NC]

8. Wow, your garden is awesome, MiHale

You obviously know a lot about gardening. It is full of variety, like asparagus, and raspberries. Thanks for showing that fine piece of earth.