Grow Your Own Magazine

Okay....

I started a comfry tea in June and stirred as needed. Then completely neglected to either use or stir it after that.. I've not dared to lift the lid recently

Does anyone know if it's 'gone off' now or can I still keep it? Can I l;eave it alone over winter in the water butt or should I bottle it or even throw it as I should have used it by now...?

Oops....

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Shortie

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children; one of these is roots, the other wings" - Hodding Carter

Do you take milk or lemon with it?

I suppose leaving it over winter will give you 'Iced Tea'?

If when you lift the lid, a big octopus like arm makes a beeline for your throat you can asume you have left it tooooo long! Its the little known Comfrey Tea monster!! Arrggh

Glad to be of service!

Shortie - you must've read my mind! I've done exactly the same thing as you - ended digging up all my brassicas coz they were eaten alive by caterpillars, despite my efforts! so, I'm left with a bucket of comfrey juice and not sure, if anything to do with it. Bought my dried comfrey from a tortoise website on ebay - guess if anyone has a tortoise they could give it to them? (only joking! ) Dexterdog

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Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

Sending you a virtual peg! I guess that the mature stewed comfrey tea is still good, if a bit whiffy. If you get round to turning over a compost heap/making runner bean trench, perhaps you could use it there. Shame to see comfrey going to waste (even if the plant is indestructable)

Righto. I'm off tomorrow to check it.... Maybe I'l be brave and lift the lid .
Will have to do it early though as my little boy's teacher is doing a pre-start visit and I can imagine now the green waft following me round hours afterwards! I'll report what I find (once I come too after passing out from the smell no doubt)

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Shortie

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children; one of these is roots, the other wings" - Hodding Carter

I tried Comfrey tea for the first time this year - it was brilliant on my flowers and veggies, but after 8 days had to ''dispose'' of it as the neighbours were muttering about getting the environmental health people out because of the smell (note to self, put a lid on it next year....)

Having left it so long, and without a crop to water with it (?) I'd suggest its a little stale and would best be put in the compost heap for now (the liquid will do the heap good too!)

p.s. the blue russian comfrey is an invasive non-native weed (introduced as a fodder crop) and so no worries about picking out in the ''wild'' - you don't have to grow-your-own - but if you choose to please make sure its a non-fertile strain...

Hmmm.... maybe I'll be extremely cautious tomorrow then. Then only thing I can think of as worse than comfry tea smell is possible stale comfry tea! Luckily the compost heap if right next to the butt so not far to move it. Maybe a job when it's dark and raining eh?

Welcome Big Onion

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Shortie

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children; one of these is roots, the other wings" - Hodding Carter

Bocking 14 is the one you want shortie.

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

well i have the brassicas - second setting - i made mega efforts to keep the butterflies off after losing the first lot to them.
but being a newey i have no comfry tea to put on them - so past it all this way
i have a cold at the moment so would be a good time to apply it
i have comfrey plants to put in but am scared to do so, because of take over bid - any tips on how to keep them in control? was thinking maybe something like with mint and bamboo - where you put a physcal barrier in to stop roots spread?
open to ideas.

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Denise xox

Learn from the mistakes of others because you'll never live long enough to make them all yourself.
-- Alfred E. Neumann
http://irchesterplot.blogspot.com

I have to be honest I didn't grow mine myself. My OH's scout group took over a camp ground that been neglected for a year or two and they were bruning the weeds etc that had grown. This is where I spotted the comfry and aquired a good few boxes of the stuff

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Shortie

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children; one of these is roots, the other wings" - Hodding Carter

I bought mine dried from e-bay from a shop called toertoise-health. Will check on the "pong" from mine tonight! dexterdog

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Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

Couldnt resist nipping round the back of the house, taking off the sealed lid from my bucket of "comfry tea" - poured it into my compost heap - crikey! that fair opened my sinuses! I'm wide awake now! NOT recommended for the faint hearted! dexterdog

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Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

[quote=denise;29724
i have comfrey plants to put in but am scared to do so, because of take over bid - any tips on how to keep them in control? to stop roots spread?[/QUOTE]

Bocking 14 Russian Comfrey doesn't spread by seed, it's sterile. Its roots won't spread either, it's not like a bamboo. It's great plant, indispensible on an organic allotment.
I just poured out my old comfrey tea onto the compost - phew! The smell doesn't last long, but it did attract 100s of little amber flies (horseflies? I left them to it) My comfrey plants are just poking out of the soil, so they'll be romping away in a few weeks.
Keep your comfrey tea in bottles (4 pint plastic milk bottles are ideal) to contain the smell.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

Can someone pleae give me some advice. I have been digging and sieving etc almost everyday for well over a week. I went out in the garden to dig some more, to get it ready for sowing and some bloody cat has buried their business all over the place. I was livid! Why cant they do it in their own back garden? Never mind squirting them with water..... I'm gonna get the pressure washer out! (Sorry to any cat lovers, but I have really had enough! ) Does anyone else have any suggestions as to what I can do to deter these little beasts!

hi Chicky, do a search on cats, there've been lots of recent postings about them.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

Best answer, get one! While I agree it doesn't solve the problem it will really limit it!

A peice of lead behind the ear works .... about .22 calibre How about getting an ex racing Greyhound the love cats and can even eat them Whole

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

Tea with milk??????? luvverly!!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

TPeers, Nick the Grief and Snadger! Thanks for the suggestions!-And for making me laugh! And too two sheds who's solution was a bit more practical,and wont have the neighbours reporting me to the RSPCA! Nick the grief- I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if you get some snotty messages from cat lovers!! I thought I might after I mentioned getting the pressure washer out but that dosen't compare to guns/rifles(or whatever a .22 is!) Lol. I can't help myself from scrolling up the page to re-read your postings,lol.

They reckon a cat buried under a grapevine (not this one!) is great for yield. We use a pump up kids water pistol. Not enough to injure them but will scare them off. Sadly they have pitifully short memories and come back for another short sharp wash. Said pistol lives on the back doorstep always fully charged! (Bird lover, not cat lover!)

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If a man is in the garden and speaks, and there is no woman to hear him, is he still wrong?

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated January 3rd - Birdwatching.

I use a large Rottweiler - It works wonders!!

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Kermit aka Jade

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad