Growing and Using Comfrey Leaves

Four years ago — mostly from curiosity, because we'd heard so much about the plant's virtues — we set aside a
small rectangular spot on our acre for a bed of 30 comfrey cuttings. They grew like mad. We harvested comfrey
leaves all summer, and found so many uses for comfrey that, at the end of the season, we ordered 150 additional
roots and expanded our little patch to a plantation of 200.

In case you're not familiar with comfrey (Symphytum officinale), it's a member of the borage family, a strong-
growing perennial with somewhat hairy leaves 12 to 18 inches long, rising on short stems from a central crown.
The flower is a pretty blue bell, fading to pink. We don't wait to see the blossoms, however, because the foliage
is at its best if cut before blooming time. The plant reaches a height of over two feet and spreads to more than a
yard across, but — since comfrey doesn't throw out creeping roots and hardly ever sets seed — it's remarkably
non-invasive for such a sturdy being.

Comfrey leaves have a high moisture content and dry more slowly than some of the herbs you may be used to
working with. Just give them a little extra time. Make sure the leaves are crumbly before you store them,
though, since any remaining dampness will cause mold. Then pack the foliage into jars and close the containers
tightly.

Medicinal Uses for Comfrey

Comfrey has long been used as a cure by Gypsies and peasant peoples, and has an ancient reputation as a
mender of broken bones. In her marvelous book Herbal Healing for Farm and Stable, Juliette de Bairacli also
recommends it for uterine and other internal hemorrhages and for the healing of wounds. British Gypsies, she
writes, feed the roots to their animals as a spring tonic. (Please Note: Comfrey is toxic to the liver for both
humans and livestock and should not be taken orally or used on open wounds. —MOTHER.) 

Comfrey contains allantoin, a substance known to aid granulation and cell formation . . . which is what the
healing process is all about. The effectiveness of this valuable plant can now be accounted for, and is therefore
more widely accepted. (Funny how pinning a name on the curative property makes it possible for us to
acknowledge it!) Here on our acre, we follow Mrs. Levy's advice and treat both people and animal hurts with
comfrey. Generally we use an infusion (strong tea) of fresh or dried leaves, either to soak a part such as a sore
finger or to dab on a cut with cotton. Crushed foliage can be applied externally, or a raw leaf rubbed on skin
lesions such as rashes and poison ivy blisters. (Scratch and heal in one operation!) Comfrey should not be
applied to open wounds or broken skin.

The most common medicinal use of comfrey are in poultices to help heal swellings, inflammations and sores.
To make such a dressing, let the leaves mush up in hot water, squeeze out the excess liquid and wrap several
handfuls of the hot, softened foliage in a clean cloth. Apply the pad to the affected part—comfortably hot, but
not scalding—and cover the area with a thick folded towel to keep the heat in. The moist warmth enhances the
healing effect of the allantoin.

Poulticing is a warm, comforting treatment, and making one is a caring act . . . something you can actually do
for a person. After all, that too counts in the healing process.

Comfrey Can Activate Compost

Town dwellers who must buy manure for their compost piles could save money by keeping a few comfrey
plants. Bocking No. 14 — a narrow-leaved, fine-stemmed type with very high protein and potash content — is
especially good for kicking the decomposition action into high gear. For best results, scatter comfrey cuttings 
throughout the compost heap. (Our planting is a mixture of Bocking No. 4 and 14 and we've used the two
interchangeably. When time and supply allow selectivity, however, it's good to know about the special
properties of each variety.)

You can also condition your soil with comfrey - it's one of the best plants for this. The roots range to depths of 8
to 10 feet, bringing up nutrients from the mineral-rich subsoil, breaking up heavy clay and aerating the land
with their channels. The leaves themselves may be buried as "instant compost" to give row crops season-long
nourishment.

How to Grow Comfrey 

Comfrey may be planted whenever the soil can be worked (the cuttings will do best, however, if transplanted
while dormant). We've had good luck with root cuttings started both spring and fall. When we expanded our
patch we put out 150 sets in late autumn, with a raw wind in our faces, and every single one made a plant. They
came up later in the spring than their full-grown neighbors, but soon bushed out like all the rest. We've even
transplanted 50 whole, growing comfrey specimens in midsummer, about the worst time we could have chosen.
Cutting off all the leaves, taking a big ball of soil each time and watering very well by bucket brigade kept each
of our victims alive . . . better luck than we had any right to expect.

The least expensive way to plant a comfrey patch is with root cuttings (see the box with this article for our
supplier's current prices). They come in 2- to 6-inch lengths and are planted in a flat — horizontal — position at
a depth of 2 to 8 inches . . . on the shallow side for heavy clay soil, deeper in sandy loam. Even hopeless-
looking little nubs of roots can form good plants, so be sure to make use of all those crumbs and pieces in the
bottom of the shipping box.

Crown cuttings cost a little more, include eyes or buds and are set out flat at a depth of 3 to 6 inches. We bought
some of these along with the root cuttings in our first order. The latter were less impressive at first but soon
caught up, and by transplanting time we couldn't tell the difference. Probably any advantage crown cuttings
have in size and development is canceled by the greater shock of relocation.

We wouldn't even consider buying a whole plant by mail order. If you can get one locally, however, you can
bring it through with good care.
Once you're growing comfrey on your own grounds, propagation can be done by dividing multiple-crowned
plants . . . or simply by digging up a piece of root and setting it in the earth as I've described. Magic!

The best planting layout — recommended by North Central Comfrey Producers — is a grid of lines three feet
apart each way with the plants located at the intersections. (No, that isn't too much space . . . just wait a couple
of years!) This plan leaves clear aisles in all directions for cultivation while the crop is young. We rototill our
patch several times a season, and any weeds that remain close to the stalks are sickled down when we harvest.

As easy as comfrey is to grow, it does need good soil. We enrich our patch with manure from the henhouse and
goat shed, and add a bag or two of rock powder every three years.

Pests
In the four years we've been growing comfrey, we've seen no insect damage. (Yes, we do know what bugs look
like . . . we have 'em on our beans, squash and cucumbers.) Possibly the thick, fuzzy leaf discourages
marauders.

Neither have we had any diseased comfrey plants in all that time. In fact, the original specimens have grown
into thick, bushy crowns with new offsets which may be used to start fresh plantings or to sell or trade. On the
basis of our reading and our own experience, I think it's safe to say that comfrey is highly resistant to pests and
to illness.

Harvesting
Bringing in the sheaves of comfrey is a natural hand task that has its own rhythmic satisfaction. When the
foliage is 12 to 18 inches tall, we cut the leaves with a sickle by gathering a bunch together and shearing them
off two inches above ground. After such a harvest, the plants will grow enough to be cut again in 10 to 30 days.
About two weeks is the average in our experience.

At the end of a sunny, non-humid day — when food value in the leaf is at its peak — we sickle our way through
the patch. On such occasions, the garden cart becomes our hay wagon to convey the cuttings to their drying spot
on the grass. Since comfrey leaves are so high in moisture and protein, we spread them out well to avoid the
heating and spoilage that would take place if the foliage were heaped up. Two days of good clear weather does
the job, and we pile the result in big cartons and store it in the garage.

One point about laying your crop on grass to dry: You'd best finish harvesting your winter's supply by mid-
August, or the heavy dews that appear later in the summer (here in the East, anyhow) will hinder the process. A
rack or wire netting screen that holds the drying comfrey up off the ground can considerably extend your
"haying" season for the plant.

Comfrey for Self-Sufficiency

Since this article was written, we've found the farm we'd wanted for so long. Living here, we depend more than
ever on our goats, rabbits, hens, pigs and—now—sheep. And so, of course, we've laid out another comfrey
patch, based on starts we brought from our acre homestead . . . mostly the wide-leaved variety, Bocking No. 4.

As we live into our farm, walking the fields, listening to what they want to be, we think more and more of a
large plantation of comfrey . . . larger than the one we left behind. Rototiller cultivation and hand harvesting
would still be practical, and soil improvement could be carried out gradually on a spot basis. (A shovel of
manure and wood ashes for each plant gives us more value from the materials at hand than we'd get from
broadcasting the stuff.)
Whatever the scale of your comfrey operation — whether you set out a whole field's worth with a tobacco
planter or plant a row beside a city garage — you'll find the plant pays for its keep. Maybe, once you start your
experiments with this crop, you'll come up with uses we haven't discovered. If you do, let us know!