Our family, with complete lack of foresight, will be gone from the Ohio Valley during the peak of wildflower and flowering tree season. What were we thinking??? Not only that, but we are headed for northern destinations. Sigh. So, today, a beautiful day, we packed in spring. After dropping Dan off at the bus to the airport, we headed to the garden to do three days work in a few hours. We tried anyway...
Our primary goal was to uproot the glorious and ever-expanding comfrey plant that I unwittingly introduced to our garden two years ago. It filled a quarter of our plot in no time at all. The upside to that was that we had a bevy of bees well through October - it was absolutely humming at all times. The downside is that it spreads like crazy and it is nearly impossible to get every bit of root out of the ground. I had incredible help from the girls, who are fair-weather gardeners, usually maxing out their attention span at 10 or 15 minutes. They hung in there for an hour during this endeavor and were so helpful to me.
We were thrilled with how rich the soil was, how many earthworms and critters we found. The girls pulled out every suspicious-looking grub (is it a cutworm? well, what did it look like? no, I think it was a hookworm - very entertaining conversation) and threw it in the nearby woods. Here is a photo for Dan, who started this project (see how full the pot is of root bits? and the bag?), and for Debbie of The Loving Path, who wanted me to send her comfrey seeds...Beware!!!
While the sun-wilted girls waited in the shade for me, I quickly filled in the hole and threw some kale starts and some onions in...we'll hope for the best and see what happens when we get back.
The three of us are leaving on Saturday for Wisconsin, by way of a camping night or two with my cousin in Indiana, so we have plenty of things on our To Do list: make chili for Saturday night's dinner, gather and make snacks and food for the weekend, do laundry, pack, clean out the car, clean out the fridge, etc...but we determined that we had to fit in a visit to the cherry trees along the river before we left, as they are sure to be blown bare by the time we return in a week and a half. So a picnic dinner it was.
3 comments:
What beautiful pictures, Debbie. And thank you for sharing your experience and wisdom regarding comfrey. I'll make sure when I get some to keep it contained. I have enough plants (and weeds)that are taking over I sure don't need another one. :)
There is a non-spreading comfrey, FYI, if you head to the garden center/herb farm, there are two distinct types. We have the clumping form and I can personally attest to it being quite polite. Debbie, beware is right...it's hard to eradicate, but perseverance and getting every new emerging shoot will pay off. It needs to photosynthesize to spread, so getting the new shoots is how I might try to eradicate or control it. It is fabulous for the compost, too!
You could barrel plant it too, and let it get big, but confined:)
Erin, thank you!!!!! I received my comfrey from a friend and had no idea there were two different varieties. I would love to have some in my next garden, so will keep this in mind! Meanwhile, we are trying to contain it in a pot...we'll see how it does!
Post a Comment